LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


PRINCETON.  N.  J. 


PRESENTED  bTR-M . cy.'T?\'Vcn\e  Smitln^'D.Ti. 


BX  8066  .P427  1918 
Pfatteicher,  Ernst  Phillip 

Henry,  1874-1943. 
Sermons  on  the  Gospels 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/sermonsongospelsOOpfat 


Sermons  on  the  Gospels 


ADVENT  TO  TRINITY 


JUL  2^;  1920 


BY 


ERNST  P.  PFATTEICHER.  D.D. 
Pastor  Trinity  Church,  Reading,  Pennsylvania 


GENERAL  COUNCIL  PUBLICATION  HOUSE. 

PHILADELPHIA 


Copyright,  1918 

BY 

EENST  P.  PFATTEICHEE 


PREFACE 


The  sermons  contained  in  this  volume  were  preached 
in  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Communion,  Philadelphia,  to 
a  congregation  consisting  in  part  of  University  and  col- 
lege students.  In  preaching  it  was  impossible  to  disasso- 
ciate from  my  mind  the  struggles  through  which  many 
of  these  young  people  were  passing  and  the  battles  which 
I  was  asked  to  help  them  fight  during  the  week.  This 
fact,  if  borne  in  mind,  will  help  the  reader  to  understand 
why  certain  themes  rather  than  others  were  chosen  and 
why  certain  methods  of  treatment  were  indulged  in  rather 
than  other,  more  obvious  methods  to  the  firm  believer  in 
Christ  Jesus.  The  endeavor  throughout  is  to  set  forth 
Christ  Jesus  as  the  Savior  of  the  world.  I  have  at- 
tempted to  compare  and  contrast  the  Christ  with  those 
with  whom  He  came  into  contact.  The  sermons  thus 
presented  are  outlines  rather  than  elaborations;  earnest, 
practical  discourses  with  a  definite  object  in  view  rather 
than  rhetorical,  literary  productions  with  an  esthetic  con- 
gregation in  mind. 

In  reluctantly  sending  forth  these  messages  may  I  say 
that  they  go  with  very  tender  and  delightful  memories  of 
ten  years  filled  so  full  with  the  diverse  and  exacting  duties 
demanded  of  a  city  pastor  of  the  twentieth  century  it  was 
impossible  to  revise  even  cursorily  the  material  in  hand. 
The  parish  to  which  I  have  been  called  is  hardly  less 
exacting  in  its  demands.  May  these  imperfect  sermons  be 
read  sympathetically  and  prayerfully  and  may  they  lead 
those  who  read  them  to  a  fervent  desire  to  know  Him 
Whom  to  know  is  life  eternal. 


m 


CONTENTS 


I.  PAGE 

First   Sunday  in   Advent 1 1 

"Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion  ;  shout,  O  daughter 
of  Jerusalem:  behold  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee;  he  is  just, 
and  having  salvation ;  lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  even 
upon  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass." — Zech.  9 : 9. 

II. 

Second  Sunday  in  Advent  19 

"When  ye  see  these  things  come  to  pass,  know  ye  that  the 
Kingdom  of  God  is  nigh  at  hand." — Luke  21 :  31. 

III. 

Third  Sunday  in  AD\fENT  27 

"Art  thou  he  that  cometh  or  look  we  for  another?" 

Matth.  II :  3. 

IV. 

Fourth  Sunday  in  Advent  36 

"This  is  the  witness  of  John,  when  the  Jews  sent  unto  him 
from  Jerusalemi  priests  and  levites  to  ask  him,  Who  art 
thou  ?" — John  1 :  19. 

V. 

Christmas   Day    43 

"Now  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  there  went  out  a 

decree  from  Caesar  Augustus,  that  all  the  world  should  be 

enrolled. 

"There  is  born  to  you  this  day  in  the  city  of   David  a 

Savior,  who  is  Christ  the  Lord." — Luke  2:1,  11. 

VI. 

Second  Christmas  Day  ' 51 

"And  when  they  saw  it,  they  made  known  concerning  the 
saying  which  was  spoken   to  them  about  this  child.     And 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


all  that  heard  it  wondered  at  the  things  which  were  spoken 
unto  them  by  the  shepherds.  But  Mary  kept  all  these  say- 
ings, pondering  them  in  her  heart." — Luke  2:  17-19. 

VII. 

Sunday  after  Christmas  58 

"And  Simeon  blessed  them  and  said  unto  Mary  his  mother, 
Behold,  this  child  is  set  for  the  falling  and  rising  up  of 
many  in  Israel ;  and  for  a  sign  which  is  spoken  against ; 
yea  and  a  sword  shall  pierce  through  thine  own  soul;  that 
thoughts  out  of  many  hearts  may  be  revealed. 

"And  coming  up  at  that  very  hour  she  (Anna)  gave 
thanks  unto  God,  and  spake  of  him  to  all  that  were  looking 
for  the  redemption  of  Jerusalem." — Luke  2:    34,  35,  38. 

VIIL 

New  Year's  Day   , 66 

"And  when  eight  days  were  fulfilled  for  circunncising  him, 
his  namie  was  called  Jesus,  which  was  so  called  by  the 
angel  before  he  was  conceived  in  the  womb." — Luke  2:  21. 

IX. 

Sunday  after  New  Year  74 

"Arise  and  take  the  young  child  and  his  rrtother  and  flee 
into  Egypt  and  be  thou  there  until  I  tell  thee  for  Herod 
will  seek  the  young  child  to  destroy  him^" — Matth.  2:  13. 


Epiphany    80 

"We  have  seen  his  star." — Matth.  2 :  2. 

XL 

First  Sunday  after  Epiphany  87 

"Knew  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 
ness ?"-HLuke  2 :  49. 

XII. 

Second  Sunday  after  Epiphany  96 

"Mine  Hour  is  not  yet  come." — ijohn  2 :  4. 


CONTENTS  vii 

I 

PAGE 
XIII. 

Third  Sunday  after  Epiphany 103 

"And  straightway  his  leprosy  was  cleansed — and  the 
servant  was  healed  in  that  hour." — Matth.  8 :  3,  13. 

I 

XIV. 

Fourth  Sunday  after  Epiphany m 

"And  they  came  to  himj  and  awoke  him,  saying,  Save, 
Lord ;  we  perish.  And  he  saith  unto  them,  why  are  ye  fear- 
ful, O  ye  of  little  faith  ?"— Matth.  8:25,  26. 

XV. 

Fifth  Sunday  after  Epiphany  120 

"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened  unto  a  m)an  that  sowed 
good  seed  in  his  field :  but  while  men  slept  his  enemy  came 
and  sowed  tares  also  among  the  wheat,  and  went  away." — 
Matt.  13:24,  25. 

XVI. 

The  Transfiguration  of  Our  Lord  128 

"He  was  transfigured  before  them  and  his  face  did  shine 
as  the  sun.  and  his  garments  became  white  as  the  light." — 
Matth.  17:2. 

XVII. 

Septuagesima  Sunday   I37 

"So  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first  last."— Matth.  20:16. 

XVIII. 

Sexagesima  Sunday  I45 

"The  sower  went  forth  to  sow  his  seed." — Luke  8 :  5. 

XIX. 

Quinquagesima  Sunday   152 

"And  he  took  unto  him  the  twelve,  and  said  unto  them, 

Behold  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem. 
"And   imffnediately   he   received   his   sight   and    followed 

him."— 'Luke  18:31,  43. 


viii  CONTENTS 


XX. 

Ash   Wednesday    i6o 

"Moreover,  when  ye  fast,  be  not,  as  the  hypocrites,  of  a 
sad  countenance :  for  they  disfigure  their  faces,  that  they 
may  be  seen  of  men  to  fast.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  they 
have  received  their  reward." — Matth.  6 :6. 

XXI. 

First  Sunday  in  Lent  i68 

"Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness 
to  be  tempted  of  the  devil." — Matth.  4:  i. 

XXII. 

Second  Sunday  in  Lent 177 

"I  was  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of 
Israel." — Matth.  15  :  24. 

XXIIL 

Third   Sunday   in   Lent    187 

"Some  of  them;  said,  by  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the 
demons  casteth  he  out  demons." — Luke  11:15. 

XXIV. 

Fourth  Sunday  in  Lent  196 

"Jesus  answered  them  and  said,  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you.  Ye  seek  me,  not  because  ye  saw  signs,  but  because  j'e 
ate  of  the  loaves  and  were  filled." — John  6 :  26. 

XXV. 

Fifth  Sunday  in  Lent  205 

"Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?  If  I  say  truth,  why 
do  ye  not  believe  me?" — John  8:46. 

XXVI. 

Palm  Sunday 212 

"Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David :  blessed  is  he  that  cometh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord ;  Hosanna  in  the  highest." — Matth. 
21 :  9. 


CONTENTS  ix 


XXVII. 

Thursday  in  Holy  Week   219 

"Could  ye  not  watch  with  me  one  hour?" — Matth.  26:40. 

XXVIII. 

Good   Friday    225 

"It  is  finished." — John  19:30. 

XXIX. 

Easter  Day 232 

"He  is  risen;  he  is  not  here." — Mark  16:6. 

XXX. 

First  Sunday   after  Easter    240 

"My  Lord  and  my  God." — 'John  20 :  28. 

XXXI. 

Second  Sunday  after  Easter   " 250 

"I  am  the  good  shepherd :  the  good  Shepherd  layeth  down 
his  life  for  the  sheep." — ^John  10:  11. 

XXXII. 

Third  Sunday  after  Easter 259 

"A  Little  While."— John  16:16. 

XXXIII. 

Fourth  Sunday  after  Easter  268 

"He,  when  he  is  come,  will  convict  the  world  in  respect  of 
sin,  and  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment." — John  16 : 8. 

XXIV. 

Fifth  Sunday  after  Easter  276 

"In  that  day  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name." — John  16 :  26. 

XXXV. 

Ascension    Day    285 

"And  when  he  had  said  these  things,  as  they  were  look- 


CONTENTS 


ing,  he  was  taken  up;  and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their 
sight.  And  while  they  were  looking  steadfastly  into  heaven 
as  he  went,  behold  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel ; 
who  also  said,  Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  looking 
into  heaven?  this  Jesus,  who  was  received  up  from  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  beheld  him  going 
into  heaven." — ^Acts  1:9-11. 

XXXVI. 

Sunday  after  Ascension  Day 294 

"When  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send  unto 
you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father,  he  shall  bear  witness  of  me :  and 
ye  also  bear  witness." — John   15:26-27. 

XXXVII. 

Whitsunday .•' 301 

"But  the  Comforter,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the 
Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all  things, 
and  bring  to  your  remembrance  all  that  I  said  unto  you." — 
John  14 :  26. 

XXXVIII. 

Trinity  Sunday  309 

"Except  one  be  born  anew,  he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of 
God."— John  3 :  3. 


Sermons  on  the  Gospels 


I. 

FIRST  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT. 

Zechariah  9:9. 

"Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion ;  shout  O  daughter  of  Jeru- 
salem': behold  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee;  he  is  just,  and  having 
salvation;  lowly  and  riding  upon  an  ass,  even  upon  a  colt  the  foal 
of  an  ass." 

We  today  enter  upon  a  new  church  year  and  though  its 
detailed  celebration  is  not  essential  to  our  salvation,  it  is 
undoubtedly  conducive  to  a  clearer,  more  systematic  and 
consequently  more  helpful  knowledge  of  the  plan  whereby 
God  saves  men.  This  is  accomplished  by  unfolding  step  by 
step  the  remarkable  crises  in  the  Life  of  lives,  emphasiz- 
ing first  the  significant  dispensation  of  that  Life  and  then 
pointing  out  the  vital  teachings  which  fell  from  the  lips 
of  Jesus.  Ever  bearing  in  mind  the  remarkable  testimony 
of  Peter,  who,  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  standing  before 
the  Sanhedrin  said:  "In  none  other  is  there  salvation; 
for  neither  is  there  any  other  name  under  heaven,  that 
is  given  among  men,  wherein  we  must  be  saved"  we  shall 
enter  upon  this  new  year  with  a  more  intense  purpose  of 
knowing  Jesus,  of  knowing  Him  in  His  meekness  and  in 
His  might,  in  His  ability  to  heal  and  to  save,  in  His 
preaching  and  in  His  teaching,  but  more  especially  in  His 
willingness  to  suffer  and  to  die,  and  in  His  glorious  resur- 
rection and  exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  His  Father, 
and  in  His  sending  forth  of  the  Comforter  Who  is  to 

n 


12  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

lead  not  only  the  disciples,  but  us  as  well  into  the  fruition 
of  truth. 

If  there  is  salvation  in  none  other  it  is  equally  certain 
that  God  has  at  all  times  communicated  the  knowledge  of 
salvation  to  those  who  have  been  willing  to  listen  to  His 
voice.  If  it  be  true  that  there  is  salvation  in  none  other, 
the  Old  Testament  must  bear  its  witness  to  this  Messiah, 
for  the  Old  Testament  contains  God's  revelation  of  sal- 
vation to  those  who  lived  upon  earth  before  the  advent 
of  the  Savior  into  our  flesh.  It  is  exactly  this  truth 
among  others  which  the  Advent  Sundays,  directly  pre- 
ceding the  celebration  of  the  Nativity  of  our  Lord,  em- 
phasize. The  gospel  lessons  of  this  season  are  not  to  be 
read  and  pondered  as  interesting  bits  of  historic  litera- 
ture, but  rather  as  the  summarization  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment vision  of  the  Messiah  and  His  reign.  From  this 
standpoint  you  can  see  how  perfectly  natural  it  is  that 
we  should  have  a  repetition  of  the  gospel  lesson  for  the 
first  Sunday  in  Advent  on  Palm  Sunday.  It  is  inserted 
at  this  point  because  it  presents  the  most  accurate  picture 
of  the  Messiah,  portraying  as  it  does,  the  longing  of  Israel 
and  the  world  for  a  Savior,  setting  forth  the  real  need  for 
Him,  presenting  by  way  of  contrast  the  distorted  view  of 
the  Savior  and  His  coming  entertained  by  Israel,  thus 
permitting  us  to  see  wherein  the  picture  as  the  populace 
beheld  Him  must  be  changed  in  order  that  it  may  accord 
with  the  vision  of  true  prophecy.  This  vision  in  the 
prophecy  of  Zechariah  is  climactic.  It  is  not  the  first  faint 
ray  of  light  indicating  the  Messiah's  approach.  Zech- 
ariah is  one  of  the  later  prophets.  The  m'essage  before 
us  is  one  of  the  later  prophecies.  Other  prophets  pre- 
ceded Zechariah.  Other  prophecies  preceded  his.  In 
fact,  many  scholars  of  today  feel  that  the  second  part 
of  the  prophecy  of  Zechariah  belongs  to  a  later  period 
than  the  first  part,  say  to  the  second  century  before  Christ. 
Should  this  conjecture  happen  to  be  correct,  it  would  but 


PJRST  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  13 

intensify  what  we  are  saying  and  indicate  that  we  have 
before  us  one  of  the  great  final  blasts  of  the  herald's 
trumpet  which  announces  the  coming  of  the  King  hence 
bids  the  daughter  of  Zion,  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem  to 
rejoice. 

We  desire  to  contrast  the  Messianic  thought  in  the  mind 
of  the  rabbi  and  of  the  prophet.  Zechariah  summarizes 
the  view  of  Israel  in  ascribing  to  the  Messiah  the  term 
King  when  he  says :  "Behold  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee." 
It  was  perhaps  natural  for  a  people  versed  in  the  etymol- 
ogy of  the  term  Messiah,  knowing  it  to  mean  king,  to  look 
upon  its  temporal  kings,  one  after  the  other,  as  the  prom- 
ised Messiah  until  the  disillusionment  came  which  proved 
the  fallacy  of  their  conjecture.  Saul  and  David  and  Solo- 
mon are  all  of  them,  one  after  the  other,  spoken  of  as  the 
anointed  of  the  Lord.  To  this  despised,  down-trodden 
race  of  slaves  and  serfs,  to  them  who  arose  gradually 
from  their  lowly  estate  to  national  consciousness  and 
race  loyalty,  to  them  who  had  marched  ever  onward 
until  at  last  the  promised  land  was  a  reality,  to  Israel 
as  it  realized  its  physical  limitations,  to  Israel,  first  as  it 
rebelled  against  God  and  then  sought  Him  again,  there 
was  a  charm  in  the  term  king.  Israel  hoped  against  hope 
that  it  might  obtain  a  strong,  valiant,  respected  earthly 
king.  This  hope  was  kindled  into  an  appreciable  flame 
as  Saul  was  anointed,  then  it  grew  ever  more  faint  as 
this  first  king  of  Israel  became  subject  to  the  evil  spirit. 
Again  the  hope  burst  forth  as  David  ascended  the  throne, 
but  even  David  was  human,  even  he  was  tempted,  and 
when  tempted  he  fell.  The  hope  that  his  son  Solomon 
would  prove  to  be  the  true  anointed  one  was  of  short 
duration.  As  one  after  the  other  of  these  kings  came 
and  went,  as  one  after  the  other  of  the  house  of  David 
succeeded  to  the  stable  throne  of  the  smaller  half  of  the 
divided  kingdom,  while  there  was  little  order  in  succes- 
sion or  duration  in  the  reigns  of  the  kings  of  the  north. 


14  SERMONS  ON,'  THE  GOSPELS 

the  term  assumed  a  new  meaning  as  Israel  began  slowly 
to  realize  the  meaning  of  the  original  objection  of  the 
Lord  to  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy  and  began  to 
study  the  significance  of  the  prophecies  concerning  the 
Messiah  which  assigned  Him  to  the  house  of  David, 
called  Him  a  Son  of  David  and  established  a  seat  for  the 
holy  city.  The  Messiah  was  no  longer,  to  the  mind  of 
Israel  simply  an  anointed  king.  He  was  to  be  not  a  king, 
but  the  king  whose  reign  might  be  delayed  for  some  time, 
but  Who  was  to  be  the  specific  king  in  Whose  govern- 
ment Israel  would  rejoice  and  prosper.  The  Messiah, 
the  one  Messiah,  became  the  object  of  Israel's  hope  and 
consolation. 

Unfortunately  for  Israel,  it  was  willing  and  ready  to 
accept  the  first  picture  of  Isaiah  and  think  of  the  Messiah 
as  '"Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God,  the  ever- 
lasting Father,  the  Prince  of  Peace."  It  never  rightly 
appreciated  the  second  vision — "the  suffering  servant." 
In  thinking  of  the  Messiah,  Israel  did  not  think  of  Him  as 
either  priest  or  prophet,  save  as  an  ideal  king  would  exer- 
cise the  functions  of  both  priest  and  prophet.  It  thought 
of  Him  as  One  Who  would  again  restore  the  kingdom  to 
Israel,  a  kingdom  far  surpassing  other  kingdoms,  a  king 
whose  supreme  rule  would  be  so  patent  it  could  not  help 
but  be  recognized.  What  a  contrast  there  was  between 
the  king  whom  Israel  was  taught  to  expect  by  prophecy 
and  the  king  its  fancy  decreed.  The  king  decreed  by 
fancy  was  to  be  a  king  as  wise  and  as  wealthy  as  Solo- 
mon, as  devout  as  David,  and  as  warlike  as  Saul.  The 
king  foretold  by  prophecy  was  to  be  "lowly,  and  riding 
upon  an  ass,  even  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass." 

The  sense  in  which  the  term  "lowly"  is  used  does  not 
mean  that  the  Messiah  would  possess  no  dignity  or  in- 
herent righteous  pride  or  real  worth.  To  be  lowly  as  it 
is  here  used  does  not  mean  to  be  ignorant,  or  poor  from 
necessity,  or  an  outcast.    To  be  lowly  means  the  exercise 


EIRST  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  15 

of  the  spirit  of  self-abnegation,  self-sacrifice  on  the  part 
of  him  who  possesses  every  trait,  yet  is  willing  to  forego 
his  prerogatives  in  order  that  he  rn,iay  be  the  better  able 
to  serve  others.  Lowliness  is  the  characteristic  of  true 
worth.  If  others  have  not  been  able  to  attain  the  heights 
you  have  scaled,  you  can  do  one  of  two  things.  You  can 
look  down  from  your  superior  position  in  a  spirit  of  con- 
descension or  of  contempt,  of  pity  or  of  scorn,  and  ulti- 
mately you  can  ignore  those  in  the  valley  below,  or  you 
can  descend  to  assist  and  encourage  those  who  are  unable 
to  reach  the  peak  without  assistance.  How  many  an 
ascent  has  been  made  easy  by  painstaking,  sympathetic 
guidance  and  encouragement,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  how 
many  an  ascent  has  been  made  impossible  because  of  an 
absolute  lack  of  sympathy  and  support.  To  educate  a 
child  a  parent  may  be  compelled  to  stop  the  process  of 
self -ascent  temporarily.  To  help  a  blind  man  over  the 
street  congested  by  traffic  the  busy  pedestrian  must  permit 
his  onward  march  to  be  impeded.  To  help  men  and 
women  mentally,  morally  and  spiritually  may  check  the 
aspiration  of  genius,  because  such  help  demands  lowli- 
ness and  lowliness,  in  the  eyes  of  a  falsely  aristocratic 
world,  means  retardation.  Lowliness  on  the  part  of 
Christ  was  absolutely  essential,  a  trait  without  which  He 
could  not  have  appeared  among  men.  The  Messiah  must 
stoop  if  men  are  to  be  lifted  up  and  drawn  unto  Him. 
The  Messiah's  problem  is  not  the  establishment  of  tem- 
poral government.  It  is  not  the  invention  of  wonderful 
appliances  in  the  interests  of  science,  nor  the  discovery 
of  unpeopled  worlds.  The  Messiah's  problem  is  the  sal- 
vation of  men  and  women  who  cannot  be  saved  without 
this  most  remarkable  demonstration  of  lowliness.  They 
will  not  approach  Him.  He  must  approach  them.  They 
cannot  think  His  thoughts.  He  must  think  their 
thoughts.  They  cannot  work  out  their  own  salvation. 
He  must  work  it  out  for  them;,  and  in  doing  so  He  must 


i6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

not  enslave  but  free  them.  They  are  servants  of  Satan. 
It  is  His  problem  to  convert  them  into  His  brethren.  He 
to  Whom  heaven  and  earth  belong  must  accept  as  a  loan 
an  ass  and  the  foal  of  an  ass.  He  Whose  ear  is  attuned 
to  the  melodies  of  heaven  must  listen  to  the  discordant 
songs  of  Hosanna  sung  in  a  mioment  of  tense  excitement. 
He  Whose  residence  is  in  the  Jerusalem  above  must  be 
content  to  enter  the  Jerusalem  below.  And  yet  He  does 
all  this  and  infinitely  more,  because  He  is  the  true 
Messiah.  Had  Israel  studied  prophecy  instead  of  follow- 
ing a  contaminated  priesthood,  which  placed  a  ban  on 
all  prophecy  not  pleasing  to  it;  had  Israel  thought  as 
seriously  of  the  priestly  and  prophetic  function  as  it  did 
of  the  regal  function,  it  certainly  could  and  would  have 
discerned  its  king  and  recognized  His  advent. 

Lowliness  and  peacefulness  are  placed  in  juxtaposition 
by  the  prophet.  As  you  think  of  the  Messiah  you  must 
think  of  Him  as  the  Prince  of  Peace  in  His  lowliness. 
The  daily  experience  of  Israel  was  not  particularly  con- 
ducive to  peace.  There  were  tribal  animosities,  insur- 
rections, civil  wars,  encounters  upon  the  field  of  battle 
with  the  leading  nations  of  the  world.  To  have  slain 
tens  of  thousands  was  a  far  more  acceptable  boast  than 
to  have  slain  thousands.  Thus  it  was  perhaps  natural  that 
Israel,  better  versed  in  contemporary  events  than  in 
prophecy,  looked  forward  to  the  coming  of  a  Messiah 
Who,  as  king,  would  acquit  Himself  a  mighty  victor  in 
battle.  The  ancient  oriental  king  desirous  of  leading  his 
armies  to  victory  was  ever  portrayed  upon  a  charger  as 
valiant  as  himself,  whereas  the  ambassador  of  peace, 
engaged  in  more  tranquil  pursuits,  was  likewise  portrayed 
upon  the  animal  which,  according  to  the  prophet,  was 
to  be  chosen  by  the  true  Messiah.  We  must  not  shrink 
from  Christian  truth  because  we  everywhere  meet  with 
the  paradox.  He  Who  was  to  be  the  Prince  of  Peace 
Himself  said:     "Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace 


FIRST  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  17 

on  earth:  I  came  not  to  send  peace  but  a  sword."  This 
sword  is  never  sent  except  as  the  precursor  of  peace. 
The  sword  that  pierces  the  heart  of  Mary  is  but  an  inci- 
dent in  the  Hberation  of  countless  other  hearts.  The 
Messiah  is  to  come  not  as  the  prince  of  temporal  peace, 
but  as  the  Prince  of  the  peace  that  passeth  understanding. 

The  prophet  further  emphasizes  the  justice  or  right- 
eousness of  this  Messiah  as  a  fundamental  characteristic. 
As  one  who  is  just  He  cannot  possibly  be  the  Messiah 
of  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  population  of  the  world. 
And  yet  Israel's  conception,  based  upon  the  temporal 
kingship  of  the  Messiah,  was  a  national  conception.  It 
had  no  sufficient  sympathy  for  those  without,  the  dogs, 
as  it  called  them.  In  this  respect  its  criticism  had  in  it 
more  venom  than  that  of  the  Greeks,  who  spoke  of  all 
other  nations  as  barbarians.  We  cannot  think  of  the 
Messiah  as  a  national  hero,  a  national  Savior.  No  one 
versed  in  the  writings  of  Holy  Writ  could  ever  have 
made  such  a  mistake.  It  is  this  very  trait  of  universality 
which  raises  Him  infinitely  above  the  gods  of  the  nations 
and  the  leaders  of  men.  Prophecy  recognizes  the  need  of 
such  a  universal  Savior.  You  and  I  realize  this  need. 
Christ  must  be  the  Christ  of  and  for  the  whole  world. 

In  one  other  detail  does  the  prophet  call  attention  to 
Israel's  inadequate  conception  of  the  Messiah,  when  he 
says  of  Him  "and  having  salvation".  Other  prophets 
in  times  past  pointed  out  Israel's  blindness  to  the  heinous- 
ness  and  deadlines  of  sin.  Israel  spoke  of  it  in  cutting, 
stinging  rebuke.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  rabbis  ignored 
and  discredited  the  teaching  concerning  original  sin. 
Paul's  trenchant  reasoning  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
is  directed  against  this  error  in  common  with  others. 
They  not  only  ignored  original  sin,  they  made  it  easy  to 
atone  for  actual  sin  by  means  of  an  intricate  system  of 
sacrifice,  a  state  of  affairs  very  analogous  to  even  present- 
day  practices  in  a  large  part  of  the  Christian  Church. 


i8  SERMONS  ONI  THE  GOSPELS 

To  people  thus  trained  in  religious  thought  and  belief 
there  was,  of  course,  little  reason  why  the  Messiah  should 
bring  salvation.  The  thought  of  the  rabbis  was  material- 
istic. Their  plane  was  that  of  sight  and  reason.  Their 
world  was  the  world  of  sense.  Their  Messiah  must  be 
a  Messiah  for  such  a  world  as  this.  Truly  the  fullness 
of  time  had  come.  With  a  darkness  such  as  this  hover- 
ing over  the  temple  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  world 
was  sighing  for  redemption,  looking  for  a  real  Messiah 
and  not  an  Israelitic  king. 

Dear  friend,  if  you  have  not  yet  found  the  Messiah, 
surely  you  are  honest  in  your  desire  to  find  Him ;  surely 
you  are  willing  to  seek  Him  where  there  is  the  greatest 
possibility  of  finding  Him ;  surely  you  are  willing  to  listen 
to  the  cumulative  testimony  of  prophets  and  martyrs. 
Surely  you  are  willing  to  place  the  testimonies  of  God 
side  by  side  and  compare  them  with  your  needs.  You 
are  not  asked  to  accept  the  rabbinic  picture  of  the 
Messiah.  Its  distortion  has  been  pointed  out.  You  are 
asked  to  consider  the  two-fold  picture  of  this  Messiah 
painted  by  prophecy.  You  know  in  your  own  heart  that 
your  life  has  often  been  a  failure.  You  need  a  strong 
advisor  and  a  sympathetic  guide.  You  need  some  one 
who,  as  Prince  of  Peace,  can  calm  your  troubled  breast. 
You  need  some  one  whose  devotion  to  you  is  unques- 
tioned. You  need  some  one  who,  as  you  draw  ever 
nearer  to  Him,  will  grow  not  smaller  and  smaller,  as  is 
the  case  with  men,  but  bigger  and  bigger,  until  at  last 
you  are  forced  to  recognize  Him  as  your  Lord  and  your 
God.  A  prayerful  study  of  the  Old  Testament,  with 
no  other  purpose  than  a  desire  to  find  the  Christ,  will, 
during  this  Advent  season,  properly  fit  you  for  the  reali- 
zation of  your  hope  and  prayer  in  the  ability  to  crown 
your  celebration  of  Christmastide  with  the  voluntary  con- 
fession: "we  have  found  the  Messiah". 


II. 
SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT. 

Luke  21 :  31. 

"When  ye  see  these  things  come  to  pass,  know  ye  that  the  King- 
dom of  God  is  nigh  at  hand." 

The  phrase  "the  last  enemy  to  be  conquered  is  death" 
was  paraphrased  by  Strauss,  the  German  scholar,  to 
whom  sacred  things  were  no  whit  holier  than  secular 
word  duels  "the  last  enemy  to  be  conquered  is  the  con- 
ception of  another  world".  In  these  words  he  confessed 
that  the  principles  and  the  program  of  the  battle  he  was 
fighting  had  not  yet  been  won.  He  stood  boldly  for  a 
tangible,  visible  world  subject  to  sense  perception.  He 
deprecated  the  idea  of  an  invisible  world,  an  unseen 
realm,  a  spiritual  world,  an  eternal  kingdom  of  God,  the 
more  important  hemisphere  of  life.  In  spite  of  his  asser- 
tion as  quoted  above,  and  in  spite  of  the  more  dogmatic 
"il  n'y  a  pas  de  surnaturel"  of  Renan,  Christian  truth  is 
still  proclaimed  and  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  continue 
to  believe  the  words  of  Christ  and  continue  to  proclaim 
their  adherence  to  a  cardinal  article  of  our  Christian  faith 
by  listening  each  year  to  the  Master's  announcement  of 
His  day  and  its  preceding  signs  and  by  confessing  their 
faith  in  the  constant  repetition  of  the  words  "from 
thence  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead." 

We  simply  cannot  disassociate  the  temporal  and  the 
eternal  and  remain  true  to  Christ.  He  has  spoken  too 
often  and  too  pointedly  of  His  Father's  home  as  our 
home,  and  of  that  day  as  His  day  and  our  day.  The 
Advent  season  would  teach  us  a  second  lesson,  ever  to 
associate  the  two  realms  of  which  we  have  spoken  and 

19 


20  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

to  associate  them  in  such  a  way  that  we  shall  appreciate 
the  significance  of  both.  If  we  would  be  true  to  Christ 
and  His  teachings,  we  must  subject  things  tangible  and 
seen  to  things  unseen  and  eternal.  This  is  an  important 
message  for  an  age  which  measures  everything  accord- 
ing to  its  conformity  to  the  second  commandment  and 
is  forgetful  of  the  meaning  of  the  first.  The  interlinking 
of  these  commandments  even  on  that  day  is  clearly 
demonstrated,  but  cause  and  effect  must  not  be  inter- 
changed. 

In  the  chapter  from  which  our  gospel  lesson  Is  taken 
there  is  a  distinction  between  things  temporal  and  eternal, 
things  tangible  and  unseen.  In  the  first  part  of  the  chap- 
ter we  are  told  that  Jesus,  wending  His  way  along  the 
Mount  of  Olives,  tarries  sufficiently  near  the  Holy  City 
to  command  a  view  of  its  imposing  temple.  The  marble 
blocks  stand  out  in  bold  relief,  a  picture  of  massive 
grandeur.  The  disciples  naturally  call  attention  to  stones 
which  are  so  aptly  emblematic  of  stability.  They  can 
surely  not  be  mistaken  in  such  an  evident  phenomenon. 
The  picture  is  real.  It  forms  part  of  the  visible  world, 
a  world  that  may  be  seen  and  touched  and  appropriated 
by  sense.  Concerning  this  visible  temple,  Jesus  says  to 
the  enthusiastic  disciples:  "As  for  these  things  which  ye 
behold,  the  days  will  come  in  the  which  there  shall  not 
be  left  one  stone  upon  the  other  that  shall  not  be  thrown 
down."  The  prophecy  concerning  the  city  of  Jerusalem 
is  specific  and  imposing.  The  visible  city  of  God  is  to 
be  compassed  with  armies  in  a  warfare  in  which  nation 
shall  rise  against  nation.  It  shall  be  trodden  down  of 
the  gentiles  until  the  time  of  the  gentiles  be  fulfilled.  To 
this  point  we  have  been  moving  in  a  tangible,  visible 
world.  In  the  paragraph  that  follows  we  are  shown  a 
world  that  is  just  as  real,  just  as  concrete,  though  unseen ; 
and  here  again,  in  this  very  gospel  lesson,  there  is  a  clear 


SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  21 

t 
line  of  cleavage  between  the  seen  and  the  unseen  in  their 
Advent  setting. 

Nowhere  are  the  two  worlds  more  clearly  distinguished 
or  more  forcibly  conjoined.  The  whole  Advent  thought 
moves  in  this  two-fold  realm,  constantly  reiterating  the 
consciousness  of  sin  and  limitation,  yet  through  it  all 
expressing  the  firm  belief  that  redemption  draweth  nigh. 
Earth  and  heaven,  the  seen  and  the  unseen,  these  are 
important  Advent  units.  These  are  the  subjects  upon 
which  Jesus  would  have  His  disciples  reflect  as  they  are 
about  to  go  forth  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd,  and  these 
are  the  objects  upon  which  they  are  to  fasten  thought  in 
token  of  His  coming  again  to  judge  both  the  quick  and 
the  dead.  In  the  important  discourse  here  recorded  con- 
cerning His  second  Advent  He  moves  from  the  seen  to 
the  unseen,  that  which  is  seen  gradually  fading  from 
sight  and  that  which  to  this  point  has  been  unseen,  gradu- 
ally taking  its  place  upon  the  screen,  now  visible  to  crea- 
tures erstwhile  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain  while 
waiting  for  a  long-deferred  hope  and  vision.  We,  too, 
shall  adopt  this  orderly  procedure.  We,  too,  shall  throw 
upon  the  screen  the  tangible  things  of  the  world  as  seen 
in  the  relation  which  they  sustain  to  the  coming  of  our 
blessed  Lord  and  then  as  our  horizon  grows  more 
lurriinous,  exchanging  these  for  the  vision  of  the  Son  of 
Man  in  His  glory  and  majesty. 

The  disciples  are  men  of  sense  perception.  They  look 
upon  the  temple  and  behold  its  glory.  They  endeavor 
to  pierce  the  spiritual  realm  and  know  something  of  the 
coming  of  the  Son  of  Man  and  are  completely  dazed. 
Asking  for  a  tangible  sign  whereby  they  may  know  when 
to  expect  the  dawning  of  that  day  which  marks  the 
beginning  of  a  fuller  life,  they  are  commanded  to  study 
the  sun  and  moon  and  stars,  for  in  that  day  "there  shall 
be  signs  in  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars".  The  children 
of  this  world  and  the  children  of  God  have,  throughout 


22  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  ages,  vied  with  each  other  and  helped  each  other  in 
the  scientific  study  of  the  heavens  as  manifested  to  sense 
perception.  Lessons  of  the  greatest  importance  have  ever 
been  attached  to  this  study  of  the  unfulfilled  but  firmly 
believed  prophecy  concerning  the  passing  of  the  earth  on 
which  we  live  by  virtue  of  a  derangement  of  the  planetary 
system.  But  a  short  time  ago  there  appeared  in  a  scien- 
tific journal  a  reiterated  warning  sounded  by  an  eminent 
astronomer,  who,  in  studying  the  heavens,  has  observed 
deflections  from  established  rules  and  orbits  and  calls 
attention  to  the  probability  of  the  destruction  of  the 
planet  on  which  we  live.  The  trained  eye  and  the  tele- 
scope unite  in  their  confirmation  by  sense  perception  of 
the  truth  enunciated  long  ago  for  the  benefit  of  a  doubt- 
ing Thomas  whom  the  Savior  of  men  would  not  lose: 
"and  upon  the  earth  there  shall  be  distress  of  nations, 
with  perplexity ;  the  sea  and  the  waves  roaring".  Accept 
the  former  statement  concerning  the  sun  and  moon  and 
stars  and  you  must  accept  the  latter  concerning  the  sea 
and  its  billows  and  the  distress  of  nations.  Light  and 
water,  factors  of  primary  importance  and  power  in  the 
creative  work,  must  grind  and  toil  and  produce  unitedly 
or  rage  in  their  dissonance.  The  distress  of  nations  is 
the  natural  resultant  of  discords  in  the  natural  world  in 
which  there  exists  or  should  exist  a  spiritual  law. 

These  are  some  of  the  signs  of  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  Man  which  may  be  perceived  by  the  senses,  but  this 
vision  is  one  of  destruction,  dismay  and  despair.  Is  there 
no  sign  of  His  coming  to  be  witnessed  in  the  visible  world 
which  tends  to  exalt?  "And  he  spake  a  parable;  behold 
the  fig  tree,  and  all  the  trees ;  when  they  now  shoot  forth 
ye  see  and  know  of  your  own  selves  that  the  summer  is 
now  nigh  at  hand."  The  thought  of  Jesus  here  enun- 
ciated is  beautifully  interpreted  by  Luther:  "God  wrote 
the  last  day  not  only  in  books,  but  also  in  the  trees, 
that  as  often  as  we  see  the  trees  shoot  forth  in  spring, 


SECOND   SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  23 

we  are  to  remember  this  parable  and  the  day  of  the 
Lord.  .  .  Our  miserable  life  here  on  earth  is  like 
unto  the  abominable,  unfruitful  winter.  Heaven,  earth, 
sea,  stars,  air  and  all  creatures  are  tired  of  the  world's 
malice  and  long  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness."  Thus  whether  it  be  the  fig  tree 
or  the  maple,  the  blossom  or  the  flower,  nature  would 
remind  us  of  that  day  of  the  Lord  when  all  things  shall 
be  made  new. 

There  is  a  relationship  between  the  unseen  and  the 
senses  as  there  is  a  co-ordination  of  the  seen  and  the 
senses.  The  transformation  is  not  complete.  The  ad- 
vance is  not  radical,  but  nevertheless  there  is  a  new  picture 
before  us.  As  we  listen  to  the  harmony  of  melody  and 
words  in  the  beautiful  aria:  "O  Thou  that  tellest  good 
tidings  to  Zion,".  the  effect  produced  upon  us  is  not  that 
of  a  secular  strain  or  of  a  tangible  environment.  We  are 
transported  by  the  medium  of  song  to  the  realm  of  the 
unseen,  and  our  sense  of  hearing  becomes  the  instrument 
whereby  we  apprehend  somewhat  of  the  glories  of  the 
invisible  world.  There  is  a  connection  between  the  unseen 
and  the  senses  in  the  verse  "verily  I  say  unto  you  this 
generation  shall  not  pass  away  before  all  things  are 
fulfilled".  Did  the  generation  to  whom  these  words  were 
addressed  not  pass  away  before  all  things  were  fulfilled  ? 
No,  for  the  reference  is  here  to  redemption  and'  the 
Kingdom  of  God  stood  for  redemption.  The  Kingdom 
of  God  was  fulfilled  in  the  death  of  Christ  upon  the 
cross,  and  the  redemption  thus  wrought  for  believers. 
The  unseen  realm,  the  Kingdom  of  God,  thus  became 
subject,  as  it  were,  to  sense,  and  even  today  as  we  medi- 
tate upon  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  the  unseen  may 
be  discerned  in  its  relation  to  the  past. 


24  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Once  He  came  in  blessing. 
All  our  sins  redressing, 
Came  in  likeness  lowly, 
Son  of  God  most  holy; 
Bore  the  cross  to  save  us, 
Hope  and  freedom  gave  us. 

I 
Still  He  comes  within  us, 
Still  His  voice  would  win  us 
From  the  sins  that  hurt  us ; 
Would  to  truth  convert  us 
From  our  foolish  errors, 
Ere  He  comes  in  terrors. 

The  historic  Christ  and  the  eternal  Christ,  the  seen 
and  the  unseen,  the  unseen  brought  near  by  the  seen, 
the  second  Advent  the  necessary  resultant  of  the  first! 
Again  the  picture  changes.  In  thinking  carefully  of  the 
Advent  message  contained  in  our  text,  we  cannot  help 
but  detect  the  co-ordination  of  the  unseen  and  spiritual 
perception. 

The  standard  to  be  employed  by  the  children  of  this 
world  has  ever  been  the  seen  and  the  senses.  This  stan- 
dard has  been  demanded  by  the  wave  of  scientific  pursuit 
sweeping  over  the  continents.  But  wheresoever  the 
supernatural  element  is  tolerated  in  its  highest  manifesta- 
tion the  unseen  and  spiritual  perception  are  found  closely 
related.  He  is  the  most  consummate  artist  who  evolves 
his  picture  or  his  statue,  his  symphony  or  his  poem  in 
the  realm  of  the  spiritual  ere  he  rmaterializes  thought, 
and  he  is  the  most  advanced  Christian  who  calls  out  in 
absolute  faith,  though  he  may  never  have  read  a  biog- 
raphy of  Jesus  other  than  the  gospels,  which,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  do  not  claim  to  be  biographies:  "I  know  that  my 
Redeemer  liveth."  This  spiritual  perception  is  to  be 
rewarded  as  the  time  draws  nigh  for  the  appearance  of 
the  Lord,  for  just  as  those  who  are  the  children  of  sight 
and  sense  will  be  confounded  because  of  a  perception  of 


SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT       25 

the  phenomena  of  nature  which  are  unmistakable,  so 
they  who  have  moved  even  here  in  an  unseen  reahn 
are  commanded  because  of  these  very  same  natural 
phenomena  "to  look  up  and  lift  up  their  heads"  for  their 
redemption  draweth  nigh.  The  looking  up  and  lifting 
up  of  the  head  vindicates  the  exaltation  which  has  never 
been  questioned  by  spiritual  discerners.  This  exaltation 
is  the  natural  consequence  of  a  redemption  wrought  by 
a  living  Redeemer  and  a  just  Judge.  The  unseen  and 
spiritual  perception,  these  two  factors  of  essential  Chris- 
tianity, should  be  present  in  every  earnest  disciple  of 
Christ  during  this  Advent  season  in  an  intensive  con- 
centration upon  the  thought  as  to  whether  or  not  he  is 
ready  to  stand  before  the  Son  of  Man.  May  we  not 
concentrate  upon  this  thought  for  a  moment?  Do  we 
individually  long  for  that  day?  Do  we  long  to  stand 
before  the  Son  of  Man  ?  If  our  lives  have  been  dedicated 
to  sight  and  sense  only,  no,  then  we  cannot  sufficiently 
long  to  stand  before  Him.  As  I  realize  my  frequent  fall, 
the  many  deflections  from  truth  and  justice,  the  ruined 
friendships,  the  lack  of  love  and  moral  force,  I  must 
shrink  from  that  day.  Only  as  I  enter  upon  a  spiritual 
communion  with  my  Lord  and  Master,  only  as  I  appro- 
priate His  redemption,  only  as  I  realize  that  my  vision 
may  properly  penetrate  behind  the  veil  which  has  been 
rent,  may  I  look  up,  lift  up  my  head  and  rejoice  that  my 
redemption  draweth  nigh. 

The  contrast  between  the  seen  and  the  unseen  is  most 
clearly  set  forth  in  their  consummation.  They  who  have 
longingly  and  patiently  awaited  the  coming  of  the  Son 
of  Man  shall  realize  their  expectations.  "Then  shall 
they  see  the  Son  of  Man  coming  in  a  cloud,  with  power 
and  great  glory."  Contrast  the  picture  of  the  babe  in 
the  manger  with  that  of  the  glorious  reappearance  of 
the  Savior  and  you  will  revise  your  once-expressed 
opinion  that  it  was  easier  for  His  age  to  believe  in  Him 


26  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

than  for  our  age  to  do  so.  What  the  shepherds  saw  was 
indeed  a  wonderful  sight,  but  the  vision  will  be  far  more 
glorious  when  the  portals  of  the  unseen  shall  at  last  be 
swung  open.  The  seen  and  the  unseen !  Surfeiting  and 
drunkenness  and  cares  of  this  life,  these  are  enumerated 
among  the  things  to  be  seen  ere  He  shall  appear.  True 
watchfulness  and  prayer,  these  are  among  the  unseen 
things  of  today  and  tomorrow.  Surfeiting  and  drunken- 
ness and  cares  of  this  life  blear  the  eyes  so  completely 
it  is  impossible  to  see  the  snare  which  has  been  laid  for 
us.  Watchfulness  and  prayer  so  thoroughly  clarify  the 
vision  that  things  unseen  by  the  natural  eye  are  first 
apprehended,  then  comprehended: 

Till  with  the  vision  glorious 
Her  longing  eyes  are  blest, 
And  the  great  church  victorious 
•  Shall  be  the  church  at  rest. 

Do  you  wonder  that  so  much  stress  has  been  laid  upon 
the  Hallelujah  chorus?  Do  you  wonder  that  people  rise 
when  it  is  sung?  Do  you  wonder  that  the  great  climax 
of  the  most  wonderful  story  ever  told  demlands  the  con- 
fession by  every  tongue  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father?  Do  you  marvel  that  all 
creation  represented  by  sun  and  moon  and  stars,  billows 
and  seas,  blossoms  and  trees,  unites  with  man  in  this 
chorus?  We  return  to  our  question:  Are  you  individu- 
ally ready  for  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  Man? 


III. 

THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT. 

Matthew  ii,  3. 
"Art  thou  he  that  cometh  or  look  we  for  another?" 

On  the  spur  of  a  hill  to  the  east  of  and  overlooking 
the  Dead  Sea  are  the  extensive  ruins  of  Machaerus,  a 
city  fortified  by  Herod  the  Great,  in  which  he  erected 
a  palace,  later  one  of  his  famous  residences.  Machaerus 
fell  to  the  heritage  of  Antipas,  ever  after  to  be  associated 
with  his  name.  To  this  palace  the  daughter  of  Aretas, 
king  of  the  Nabateans,  asked  that  she  be  sent  when 
Antipas  divorced  her  and  drove  her  from  his  presence. 
In  the  confines  of  a  palace  which,  to  her,  was  no  more 
than  a  prison,  she  tarried,  hoping,  ever  hoping  that  she 
might  be  permitted  to  return  to  her  husband  or  flee  to 
the  jurisdiction  of  her  father.  Machaerus  was  the  site 
of  a  dungeon  as  well.  Hard  by  the  palace  was  a  prison, 
and  to  this  prison  John  the  Baptist  was  condemned  for 
championing  the  cause  of  the  daughter  of  Aretas  in  tell- 
ing Herod  that  it  was  not  right  for  him  to  have  his 
brother's  wife. 

The  stories  of  the  third  and  fourth  Sundays  in  Advent 
do  not  center  in  the  Baptist,  but  portray  his  relation  to 
the  Messiah.  The  active  ministry  of  John  is  ended  ere 
the  story  recorded  in  our  gospel  lesson  begins.  He  has 
told  the  truth  at  court.  He  has  interfered  with  the 
autonorny  of  a  tyrant,  he  has  opposed  despotism,  sensu- 
ality and  falsehood.  He  has  subjected  himself  to  the 
wrath  of  the  king  and  his  new  queen.  He  has  brought 
imprisonment  upon  himself.  Languishing  in  his  prison, 
he    hears    of    the    appearance    of    the    Christ,    whose 

27 


28  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

fore-runner  he  has  been.  The  honest,  impetuous,  zealous 
John,  who  has  awakened  so  many  in  Israel  from  their 
sleep,  who  has  feared  neither  king  nor  peasant,  neither 
class  nor  mass,  becomes  impatient  and  perhaps  a  bit 
sceptical.  Report  tells  him  the  Messiah  has  cornle.  If 
this  person  whose  fame  is  spreading  be  the  Messiah, 
there  is  no  doubt  about  it  he  has  not  yet  accomplished  all 
those  things  which  the  Baptist  has  foretold.  Impatience 
and  doubt  prompted  him  to  send  his  disciples  to  Jesus 
with  the  question:  "Art  thou  he  that  shall  come,  or  do 
we  look  for  another?"  In  asking  the  question,  the  Bap- 
tist injects  a  note  of  doubt  into  the  Advent  season. 
Hitherto  there  has  been  no  doubt.  The  primary  thought 
has  concerned  itself  with  grace,  unbounded  grace.  "We 
are  saved  by  grace"  is  the  assertion  of  the  apostle  whose 
personal  turning  to  Jesus  was  by  no  means  the  resultant 
of  his  own  volition  and  desire.  He  had  seen  the  King. 
His  King  had  come  unto  him  and  neither  man  nor 
woman,  child  nor  adult,  can  adequately  reflect  upon  the 
meaning  of  the  Advent  season  who  has  not  beheld  the 
motto,  "Behold,  thy  king  cometh  unto  thee"  written 
large  over  the  very  portal  of  the  season,  and  having 
seen  it  has  heeded  its  import  as  did  the  apostle  on  the 
way  to  Damascus.  This  very  thought,  however,  of  the 
abundance  of  grace  accorded  us  by  the  King,  Who  for 
this  purpose  is  willing  to  lay  aside  His  royal  robe  and 
spotless  crown  and  put  on  our  soiled  and  tattered  gar- 
ments and  the  crown  of  thorns  woven  for  Him  by  us 
out  of  the  brambles  of  sin,  is  followed  by  its  sequence: 
suppose  I  do  not  accept  this  proffered  grace,  suppose  I 
do  not  choose  to  accept  it,  suppose  I  continue  to  live  as 
I  did  when  I  did  not  yet  know  Jesus?  Then,  of  course, 
there  is  nothing  left  but  judgment,  a  judgment  which, 
though  it  need  not  be  feared  by  them  that  love  Jesus  and 
await  His  coming,  irrevocably  settles  my  status  and 
alligns  me  either  for  or  against  Him  for  all  time.     Thus 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  29 

the  very  thouglit  of  judgment,  emphasized  during  this 
season,  is  a  dogmatic  thought,  and  involves  either  the 
acceptance  or  the  rejection  of  grace.  At  this  point  there 
is  injected  into  the  thought  of  the  season  the  element  of 
doubt.  Suppose  He  Who  has  come  is  not  the  promised 
Messiah?  Suppose  we  are  compelled  to  continue  our 
quest  for  truth  and  the  promised  Messiah;  suppose  His 
corning  has  been  indefinitely  postponed ;  suppose  they  who 
are  still  anxiously  waiting  for  His  appearance  are  the 
true  Israel?  The  question,  as  John  puts  it,  is  the  ques- 
tion of  an  honest  man. 

No  man  ever  took  life  more  seriously  than  did  John 
the  Baptist.  No  man  ever  trifled  less  with  moments, 
days,  months  and  years.  In  every  sense  he  was  a  man 
sent  from  God  who  came  for  a  witness  to  bear  witness 
of  the  light  that  all  men  through  Him,  that  is  through 
Christ,  might  believe.  Any  man  who  is  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  from  his  mother's  womb  must  realize  the 
responsibility  with  which  he  is  endowed  and'  fill  life 
brimful  with  honest  endeavor.  This  is  exactly  what  hap- 
pened in  the  experience  of  John.  Born  the  son  of  a 
priest,  his  would  naturally  have  been  a  priest's  life,  with 
its  outward  honors  and  comparative  ease,  the  accompani- 
ments of  the  office  in  his  age.  But  he  breaks  with  tra- 
dition, as  every  great  man  or  woman  before  or  after 
him  has  done,  goes  out  into  the  desert,  leaves  his  home 
and  a  life  of  ease,  and  prepares  for  his  mission  in  life. 
His  withdrawal  from  the  haunts  of  men  implied  his 
break  with  "the  prevalent  Pharisaic  type  of  piety".  It 
meant  his  disapproval  of  corruption.  It  meant  that  he 
had  for  all  time  cast  his  lot  as  a  reformer,  an  honest 
reformer.  It  meant  that  he  believed  king's  palaces  to  be 
no  fit  places  for  meditation  on  life's  work.  It  meant  that 
he  believed  the  question  of  fine  raiment  and  elaborate 
food  to  interfere  with  a  true  conception  of  life.  It 
meant  that  he  realized  the  importance  of  studying  the 


30  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

past  and  the  future  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  he  knew 
in  order  to  apply  their  teachings  to  his  own  age.  John 
has  a  message  for  his  age.  The  message,  though  vari- 
ously formulated,  returns  to  the  one  word,  "repent," 
turn  from  the  darkness  which  covers  the  earth  to  the 
light  which  has  risen.  John's  message  converts  the 
wilderness  into  a  populated  district.  It  is  unnecessary 
for  him  to  return  to  the  haunts  of  men,  for  men,  whether 
high  or  low  in  the  scale  of  life,  are  seeking  him  out. 
They  realize,  as  a  new  truth  to  most  of  them,  that  change 
of  heart  and  mind  are  essential  ere  the  Kingdom  of  God 
shall  be  realized.  John  is,  above  all  things,  a  searcher 
of  hearts.  It  seems  strange  that  a  man  of  his  type  should 
attract  anyone.  He  lays  bare  the  sins  of  individual  lives 
just  as  he  lays  bare  the  sins  of  the  nation.  He  cannot 
do  otherwise.  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit's  message  to 
humanity  in  anticipation  of  the  day  of  the  Lord.  The 
very  people  who  are  most  cuttingly  rebuked  are  they  who 
form  the  major  portion  of  his  audience. 

Does  this  not  accord  with  our  own  experience?  Are 
there  not  moments  when  we  awaken  from  our  sleep 
of  contentment  to  a  full  realization  of  the  course  we  have 
been  pursuing  and  its  tragic  results?  An  honest  man 
with  a  serious  motive  in  life,  that  motive  to  understand 
and  interpret  the  purpose  of  God  in  His  attitude  toward 
men  and  the  consequent  conduct  of  man  in  his  relation- 
ship to  God  and  man,  there  is  no  greater  dynamic  in  all 
the  world  than  this. 

The  honesty  of  John  may  neither  be  described  as  the 
preachment  of  social  integrity  to  the  exclusion  of  per- 
sonal responsibility  nor  the  emphasis  upon  individual 
sinfulness  to  the  exclusion  of  its  social  significance.  He 
meets  his  duty  as  it  presents  itself.  He  flays  society  be- 
cause of  its  mock  mass  unrighteousness,  but  he  is  equally 
earnest  as  he  stands  before  the  individual  who  is  a  factor 
in  society,  whether  he  be  a  leading  Pharisee  or  the  king 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  31 

of  the  nation.  No  man  unimpressed  with  the  serious- 
ness of  life  and  the  reality  of  God's  call  to  him  to  right 
conditions  that  are  wrong  could  ever  have  assumed  an 
initiative  such  as  John  assumed.  However,  the  greatest 
vindication  of  John's  absolute  honesty  is  not  to  be  found 
in  his  presence  before  the  king,  whose  sphere  it  was  to 
rule  over  him.  The  greatest  vindication  for  and  test 
of  his  honesty  lies  in  the  open  question  which  he  puts  to 
Him  Who  is  to  rule  his  heart:  "Art  thou  he  that  shall 
come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?"  John  knew  full  well, 
as  you  and  I  know,  that  some  one  must  rule  the  heart, 
some  one  must  be  our  Master;  we  must  be  some  one's 
disciples.  The  other  alternative  is  that  others  must  be 
our  disciples  or  that  we  consciously  separate  our  lives 
and  our  interests  from  the  world  round  about  us.  John 
had  not  given  up  his  hope  and  faith  even  here  in  prison 
in  the  coming  of  a  Messiah.  The  problem  of  religion  was 
too  real  for  that.  The  Scriptures  were  too  vital  for  that. 
His  life,  dominated  and  impelled  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
would  and  could  brook  no  thought  of  ultimate  disappoint- 
ment in  the  coming  of  the  Messiah.  The  only  question 
that  forced  itself  upon  him  as  it  has  forced  itself  upon 
the  minds  of  many  of  the  house  of  Israel  was  "art  thou 
he  that  shall  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another"?  Were 
there  not  many  in  his  day  and  the  day  of  the  Messiah 
who  believed  as  we  have  already  seen  that  Messiah  would 
come  otherwise  than  He  actually  came?  Were  there  not 
those  whose  conception  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
through  Abraham  seemed  to  demand  no  Fatherhood  of 
God  through  Jesus  Christ?  To  them  Abraham  had 
actually  taken  the  place  of  the  Messiah,  and  Abraham's 
bosom  had  lost  its  typical  significance  and  assumed  a 
final  meaning.  They  needed  no  other  than  Abraham. 
For  many  others  Moses  was  the  Messiah.  They  needed 
nothing  more  because  they  had  Moses.  They  needed  no 
prophets.      They    did    not    realize    the    import    of    the 


32  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

prophetic  word:  "a  prophet  Hke  unto  me  shall  the  Lord 
awaken  from  among  your  brethren".  To  them  the  law- 
giver who  had  communed  with  Jehovah  on  the  mount 
and  received  his  commandments  for  the  children  of  men 
was  the  real  intercessor  between  God  and  man.  Still 
others,  mindful  of  the  very  last  words  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment: "Behold  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before 
the  great  and  terrible  day  of  Jehovah  come ;  and  he  shall 
turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and  the 
heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers;  lest  I  come  and 
smite  the  earth  with  a  curse"  looked  upon  the  prophet 
who  had  conquered  the  priests  of  Baal  as  the  Messiah 
who  was  to  appear.  In  the  lesson  for  next  week  we  shall 
see  that  there  were  those  who  believed  John  himself  to 
be  the  Messiah.  With  this  great  confusion  in  the  minds 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  need  we  be  surprised'  that  the 
Baptist,  languishing  in  prison,  became  a  bit  confused? 
In  it  all  and  through  it  all  his  eyes  never  turned  to  the 
past  as  did  the  eyes  of  many  of  his  contemporaries.  He 
knew  the  Christ  was  not  manifest  in  Abraham  or  in 
Moses,  nor  in  Elijah.  He  knew  the  Christ  would  come 
as  Scripture  predicted.  His  only  concern  was:  "art  thou 
the  Christ"? 

In  leading  foreign  students  in  our  universities,  the 
devotees  of  heathen  cults,  to  Christ  it  has  grown  to  be 
the  customary  procedure  to  introduce  them  into  the  field 
of  comparative  religion,  to  point  out  to  them  the  char- 
acteristics of  religions  which  are  familiar  to  them,  in 
order  that  these  characteristics  and  principles  may  be 
compared  with  the  essentials  of  Christianity.  The  inten- 
tion is  to  awaken  in  their  hearts  and  minds  a  conscious- 
ness of  the  supremacy  of  Christ.  This  consciousness 
existed  in  the  mind  of  John.  He  needed  not  that  it  be 
awakened.  He  needed  a  real  demonstration  of  the  power 
of  Jesus  in  accordance  with  the  high  ideal  which  he  had 
ever  had  before  him.    It  is  true,  in  this  respect,  he  places 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  33 

himself  beside  Thomas.  He  must  see  and  feel.  He  must 
be  assured.  But  his  faith  is  greater  than  that  of  Thomas, 
for,  as  we  have  seen,  he  has  never  wavered  in  his 
acknowledgment  of  the  expected  appearance  of  the 
Christ,  the  Savior  of  the  world.  Friends,  the  question 
is  one  you  cannot  evade.  You  must  answer  it  and  you 
must  seek  to  answer  it  honestly.  Is  the  Jesus  Who  came 
twenty  centuries  ago  the  Son  of  God,  the  Messiah,  the 
Savior  of  the  world,  or  is  He  not?  That  the  world  must 
have  a  Savior  we  know.  Is  Jesus,  the  lowly  Nazarene, 
the  Son  of  Mary,  the  Savior  of  the  world?  Is  He  your 
Savior  ?  You  have  not  answered  that  question  by  settling 
back  comfortably  in  your  pew  and  taking  it  for  granted. 
You  have  not  answered  the  question  by  evading  it.  More 
than  that,  you  have  not  answered  the  question  by  sur- 
feiting in  the  pleasures  of  this  life  and  the  criticisms  of 
the  age.  The  splendid,  rugged  honesty  of  John  appears 
in  the  method  which  he  adopts  to  convince  himself  con- 
cerning the  claims  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus.  He  has 
brooded  over  the  question  long  enough.  He  cannot 
determine  the  problem  by  brooding.  He  does  not  decide 
to  send  his  disciples  or  others  than  his  disciples  to  observe 
the  work  and  teachings  of  Jesus  in  a  critical  spirit  with- 
out revealing  their  identity  to  the  Master.  His  method 
is  far  more  direct  than  that.  The  disciples  are  to  go  to 
Christ.  They  are  to  ask  Him.  He  is  to  give  Christ  the 
benefit  of  the  doubt.  John  has  not  convinced  himself 
that  Christ  is  not  the  Messiah.  The  burden  of  proof  does 
not  rest  on  the  shoulders  of  Christ,  but  on  those  of  John. 
It  isn't  so  much  the  question  of  having  Christ  prove  His 
claim  as  it  is  of  having  the  Baptist  confirm  his  weak  faith. 
These  facts  are  of  very  great  importance  in  your  determi- 
nation of  the  question.  Christianity  must  not  be  asked 
to  establish  its  case.  It  can  be  asked  to  set  forth  a  con- 
tinued demonstration  of  power  over  the  lives  of  men. 
If  you  would  know  Jesus,  you  must  go  directly  to  Him 


34  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

and  not  to  another.  You  cannot  go  to  Him  as  did  the 
disciples  of  John  and  witness  His  works  and  listen  to 
His  preaching  as  He  walks  among  men;  but  you  can  do 
more  than  the  disciples  of  John  were  able  to  do.  You 
can  seek  Him  in  His  Word.  The  entire  field  of  vision 
open  to  John  lies  open  before  you.  The  entire  Old 
Testament,  with  its  hopes  and  its  promises,  its  expecta- 
tions and  its  failures,  its  reverses  and  its  victories,  its 
darkness  and  its  dawning,  its  search  after  truth  by  some 
:ind  its  utter  blindness  on  the  part  of  others,  this  was  the 
Bible  of  John  and  his  disciples  as  it  is  part  of  our  Bible. 
We  say  it  is  only  part  of  our  Bible.  John  the  Baptist 
did  not  have  before  him  the  wonderful  testimony  of 
Matthew  and  Mark  and  Luke.  Neither  he  nor  his 
disciples  realized  at  that  time  the  enormous  progress  to 
be  made  in  the  apprehension  of  Christian  truth  by  one 
who  was  numbered  among  that  band  and  was  later  to 
lean  upon  the  bosom  of  Jesus  and  still  later  to  give  to 
the  world  its  most  precious  record  of  that  life.  They 
could  not  then  tell  that  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,  resi- 
dent in  Tarsus,  would  come  forward  at  the  beck  of  the 
Master  and  overthrow  many  of  their  preconceived  ideas 
of  religion  and  the  Messiah.  They  did  not  realize  the 
significance  for  Christianity  in  the  step  which  Andrew, 
the  erstwhile  disciple  of  Jesus,  took  when  he  went  "and 
first  found  his  own  brother,  Simon,  saying  unto  him,  we 
have  found  the  Messiah".  They  did  not  know  the 
Messiah  as  you  and  I  can  know  Him,  even  though  they 
saw  Him  with  their  physical  eyes. 

The  question  is  often  asked:  Why  are  some  of  the 
cults  of  today  so  successful  in  the  dissemination  of  their 
heretical  teachings  and  true  Christianity  often  so  weak? 
The  answer  is  simple  enough;  because  the  devotees  of 
these  cults  are  made  to  study  Scriptures  and  the  Chris- 
tians of  today  do  not  study  them.  The  question  "art 
thou  He  that  shall  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another"?  can 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT  35 

be  answered  only  as  we  ask  Christ,  only  as  we  seek  to 
find  Him  in  His  Word,  only  as  we  pray  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  unlock  the  mysteries  of  the  Book  which  testifies  of 
Him. 


IV. 

FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT. 

John  i  :  19. 

"This  is  the  witness  of  John,  when  the  Jews  sent  unto  him  from 
Jerusalem  priests  and  levites  to  ask  him,  Who  art  thou?" 

Bearing  witness  may  be  termed  the  great  business  of 
life.  It  is  a  fundamental  principle  involving  both  law  and 
gospel,  things  temporal  and  things  eternal.  That  the  law 
cannot  be  administered  without  witnesses  was  early 
recognized,  as  is  clearly  attested  in  the  Deuteronomic 
code.  "At  the  mouth  of  two  witnesses  or  three  witnesses 
shall  he  that  is  to  die  be  put  to  death;  at  the  mouth  of 
one  witness  shall  he  not  be  put  to  death."  And  the  im- 
portance of  witness  bearing  is  still  further  emphasized 
by  insisting  that  witnesses  shall  throw  the  first  stone  upon 
the  culprit  adjudged  guilty  of  death.  According  to  this, 
same  law,  a  false  witness  was  to  undergo  the  exact  pun- 
ishment which  would  have  been  meted  out  to  the  accused 
had  it  been  true.  Prophecy  also  recognizes  the  impor- 
tance of  this  function  and  constitutes  Jehovah  at  one  and 
the  same  time  the  judge,  prosecutor  and  witness  in  deal- 
ing with  His  people.  He  has  witnessed  the  sin  of  mian. 
Therefore  He  bears  testimony,  accuses  and  judges. 

Even  in  Jesus'  day  the  importance  of  having  witnesses 
is  acknowledged  by  the  elders  of  the  Jews  who  introduce 
false  witnesses  against  Jesus.  Would  our  testimony  have 
differed  materially  from  that  of  the  leaders  of  His  day? 
We  are  concerned  on  this  fourth  Sunday  in  Advent  with 
our  own  personal  testimony  concerning  ourselves  and  the 
relationship  we  sustain  to  the  Christ.  The  entire  incident 
recorded  in  the  gospel  lesson  revolves  about  the  question 

36 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN.  ADVENT       37 

"who  art  thou"?  The  answer  will  indicate  the  relation- 
ship we  sustain  to  both  Christ  and  the  world.  It  will 
help  us  properly  to  celebrate  Christmas  Day  or  it  will 
hinder  us  from  a  fulsomfe  participation  in  its  blessings. 
"Who  art  thou?"  was  primarily  the  question  of  the 
Jews  who  sent  representatives  out  into  the  wilderness 
across  the  Jordan  river  to  seek  out  this  wierd  prophet 
whose  incisive  messages  had  reached  the  ears  of  the 
Sanhedrin  assembled  at  Jerusalem.  It  was,  as  we  know, 
a  specific  function  of  the  Sanhedrin  to  guard  against 
false  prophets.  Time  and  again  such  false  prophets  had 
arisen  and  led  many  astray.  Hence  it  was  natural  for 
this  conservative  body  on  hearing  the  reports  of  the 
mighty  preaching  and  teaching  of  John  to  send  repre- 
sentative men  out  to  obtain  information  concerning  hint 
and  his  work  at  first  hand.  It  is  not  difficult  to  picture 
these  spies  as  they  mingle  with  the  great  throngs  and 
listen  to  the  words  of  the  Baptist.  It  is  not  difficult  to 
conjecture  the  inspiration  which  prompted  the  preacher 
to  recognize  their  motive  in  coming  to  his  preaching  and 
their  need  of  a  new  viewpoint,  hence  such  words  as  these 
are  addressed  directly  to  them:  "even  now  the  axe  lieth 
at  the  root  of  the  trees :  every  tree  that  bringeth  not  forth 
good  fruit  is  hewn  down,  and  cast  into  the  fire".  The 
message  of  the  preacher,  his  appearance,  his  great  follow- 
ing, the  striking  realism  of  it  all  is  too  much  for  these 
representative  priests  and  Levites.  They  are  bewildered, 
and  in  their  bewilderment  they  recognize  the  need  of  a 
personal  interview  with  John.  On  approaching  him,  they 
find  him  ready  to  answer  their  question.  So  great  has 
been  the  impression  created  upon  their  minds  by  what 
they  have  seen  and  heard  they  begin  their  questioning 
by  endeavoring  to  discover  whether  he  believes  himself 
to  be  the  Christ  or  not.  John  is,  as  always,  absolutely 
honest.  "And  he  confessed  and  denied  not,  and  he  con- 
fessed, I  am  not  the  Christ."     Throughout  many  cen- 


38  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

turies  the  world  had  been  preparing  for  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah.  He  could  not  come  ere  the  fulness  of  time 
had  dawned,  but  many  signs  in  Israel's  history  pointed 
to  the  fact  that  Christ  was  at  last  standing  before  the 
door.  He  was  to  be  the  great  climax  in  the  history  of 
Israel.  The  one  specific  function  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets  was  to  point  the  way  to  Him.  This  had  been 
done.  The  synagogue  was  ready  for  the  Messiah.  As 
it  afterward  proved  it  was  not  ready  for  a  Messiah  born 
in  a  manger,  the  friend  of  sinners  and  publicans,  but  it 
did  expect  a  Messiah.  And  it  was  ready  to  investigate 
the  claims  of  any  false  prophets  who  might  present 
themselves.  There  was  nothing  unreasonable  in  the 
question  they  asked  him  when  these  things  are  borne  in 
mind.  John  did  not  hesitate  for  a  moment.  He  was  an 
ideal  forerunner  of  Christ  because  of  his  never-failing 
recognition  of  the  relationship  which  he  sustained  toward 
Christ.  "In  the  midst  of  you  standeth  one  whom  ye  know 
not,  even  He  that  cometh  after  me,  the  latchet  of  whose 
shoe  I  am  not  worthy  to  unloose."  In  the  eyes  of  many 
of  the  populace  there  could  have  been  little  to  choose, 
as  they  thought,  between  the  forerunner  and  the  Messiah, 
the  disciple  and  the  Master.  The  disciple  alone  recog- 
nized the  great  chasm  between  the  earth-born  and  the 
heaven-born  kinsmen.  Consequently,  on  the  very  day 
after  this  interview,  as  Jesus  approaches  the  Baptist,  the 
Baptist  points  to  him  as  he  says:  "Behold  the  Lamb  of 
God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  The  one 
thought  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  the  disciple  concerning 
the  Messiah  is  his  separateness  from  mankind  and  His 
Mission  for  mankind.  To  Isaiah  the  Holy  One  meant 
the  separated  one.  It  means  that  and  a  little  more  to 
John.  For  Isaiah  the  Separated  One  is  the  Judge.  John 
thinks  of  Him  as  the  Savior  of  the  world.  John  cannot 
honestly  claim  to  be  the  Christ.  He  desires  no  such 
distinction.' 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  INI  ADVENT  39 

Humanity's  ideal  is  to  be  found  in  no  human  leader. 
As  the  question  is  asked  of  those  who  are  deemed  great 
among  men  "who  art  thou"  with  at  least  some  mten- 
tion  on  the  part  of  those  who  question  to  determine  the 
possibility  of  actualizing  an  ideal  there  comes  in  each 
case  either  from  the  lips  of  the  person  so  addressed  or  as 
the  resultant  of  an  investigation,  the  by  no  means  un- 
certain reply  "not  the  Christ".  It  seems  very  strange, 
does  it  not,  that  in  our  times  the  test  cannot  be  the  direct 
question  in  every  instance,  that  men  are  at  times  unwilling 
to  make  the  confession  of  John,  that  witnesses  must  be 
arrayed  against  them  to  disprove  their  erroneous  estimate 
of  themselves.  Sin  is  not  the  heinous  thing  it  once  was. 
There  are  so  many  mitigating  circumstances,  so  many 
reasons  why  transgressions  occur,  which  seem  to  be  per- 
fectly natural,  so  many  disturbances  for  which  no  one 
is  responsible,  so  much  reasoning  about  the  divinity  in 
our  nature,  we  have  quite  forgotten  our  estrangement 
from  God,  quite  forgotten  that  He  looms  larger 
than  man,  quite  forgotten  the  relationship  we  sustain  to 
Him,  quite  forgotten  that  our  transgressions  have  created 
a  chasm  which  only  His  love  can  bridge.  We  cannot 
live  without  an  ideal,  and  our  ideal  is  worth  but  little  if 
it  can  either  never  be  realized'  or  if  in  being  realized  it 
separates  us  from  Christ.  John's  ideal,  John's  passion, 
was  Christ  and  Christ  was  to  him  the  Lamb  of  God,  the 
Savior  of  the  world.  Art  thou  the  Christ,  dear  friend, 
for  surely  there  must  be  a  Messiah,  a  Christ  in  your  life? 
Surely  the  hope  of  Israel  is  not  a  delusion.  You  must 
confess,  and  if  you  will  not,  others  will  do  it  for  you 
"I  am  not  the  Christ". 

The  priests  and  Levites  have  arrived  at  a  partial  con- 
clusion in  their  investigation  of  this  strange  personage — 
John.  They  have  heard  from  his  own  lips  that  he  does 
not  profess  to  be  the  Christ.  Their  difficulty  has,  how- 
ever, not  been  solved.     They  have  swept  aside  a  con- 


40  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

jecture.  They  must  obtain  a  positive  answer.  "And 
they  asked  him,  what  then?  Art  thou  Elijah?"  It  was 
most  natural  that  they  should  first  have  sought  to  identify 
John  with  the  Messiah.  It  was  quite  logical  that  in  their 
continued  examination  they  should  endeavor  to  ascertain 
whether  or  not  he  was  Elijah.  The  very  last  words  of 
the  Old  Testament  associate  the  coming  of  the  great  day 
of  the  Lord  with  the  appearance  of  Elijah.  "Behold  I 
will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet  before  the  great  and 
terrible  day  of  Jehovah  come.  And  he  shall  turn  the 
hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and  the  hearts  of 
the  children  to  their  fathers;  lest  I  come  and  smite  the 
earth  with  a  curse."  This  was  part  of  the  Scripture 
which  the  priests  and  Levites  read  continually  and  en- 
deavored to  interpret.  And  there  was  no  doubt  about  it, 
the  parallelism  between  Elijah  and  John  was  striking. 
Both  came  to  proclaim  judgment.  Both  came  from  the 
wilderness.  Both  were  austere  in  manner  and  ascetic  in 
life.  In  their  preaching  and  in  their  baptism  there  was 
much  similarity.  Jesus  Himself  indicates  that  the 
prophecy  of  Malachi  has  found  its  fulfilment  in  John  the 
Baptist,  for  as  he  was  coming  down  from  the  mountain 
with  His  disciples  after  the  Transfiguration  and  enjoined 
them  to  tell  the  vision  to  no  man,  they  in  turn  asked: 
"Why  then,  say  the  scribes,  that  Elijah  must  first  come?" 
And  Jesus  answered  them:  "I  say  unto  you  that  Elijah 
is  come  already,  and  they  knew  him  not,  but  did  unto 
him  whatsoever  they  would."  The  evangelist  adds: 
"Then  understood  the  disciples  that  he  spake  unto  them 
of  John  the  Baptist."  Why  then  does  John  deny  that 
he  is  Elijah  re-incarnate?  Because  the  Jews  had  woven 
round  about  the  prophetic  word  a  mass  of  tradition;  for- 
getting the  original  setting  and  meaning  of  the  Word 
of  God,  they  awaited  the  coming  of  a  re-incarnate 
prophet,  disguised  to  suit  their  fancy  and  equipped  to 
do  their  work.     In  this  sense  he  was  not  Elijah. 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  INj  ADVENT       41 

Who  art  thou,  dear  friend,  a  re-incarnate  man  of  God, 
cast  in  a  certain  mould,  with  no  power  of  initiative,  no 
distinct  mressage,  no  peculiar  environment?  Are  you 
willing  to  be  some  one  other  than  the  self  God  would 
have  you  be?  As  the  first  question  "art  thou  the  Christ" ? 
has  taken  you  by  storm  and  has  convinced  you  of  your 
own  humility  and  unworthiness,  has  convicted  you  of 
your  sinfulness,  the  second,  "art  thou  Elijah"?  has  car- 
ried you  to  the  mount  and  has  shown  you  the  Lord  in 
the  moment  of  His  transfiguration,  not  as  Elijah  saw 
Him,  but  as  you  and  only  you  have  seen  Him,  recog- 
nizing your  specific  duty  and  your  direct  opportunity. 
Your  duty  and  your  opportunity  very  much  resemble  the 
duty  and  the  opportunity  of  every  other  Christian,  but 
there  is  added  the  individual  duty,  the  individual  oppor- 
tunity which  belongs  to  no  one  other  than  you. 

Baffled  a  second  time  in  their  conjectures,  the  inquirers 
return  to  their  task  of  ascertaining  the  identity  of  this 
preacher.  "Art  thou  the  Prophet  ?"  they  ask  him.  Moses 
had  been  likened  unto  a  prophet  who  shall  be  raised 
up  from  among  his  brethren.  John  has  already  denied 
that  he  is  the  Christ.  He  has  denied  that  he  is  Elijah. 
The  third  question  and  answer  follow  in  logical  sequence. 
John  is  not  a  re-incarnate  Moses,  nor  a  re-incarnate 
Jeremiah,  as  some  supposed.  John  does  not  claim  the 
distinction  of  occupying  the  chief  seat  at  the  table  of  his 
Lord,  for  he  knows  that  self-exaltation  brings  abasement 
and  that  humiliation  is  the  highest  type  of  Christian 
virtue. 

The  inquirers  return  once  more  to  the  question  "who 
art  thou"?  They  acknowledge  the  insufiiciency  of  their 
conjectures  by  permitting  the  Baptist  to  exercise  his  own 
discretion  in  the  answer  he  is  to  render.  He  is  to  respond 
as  he  deems  best  and  he  does  so  by  applying  to  himself 
the  prophetic  word  of  Isaiah:  "I  am  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  the  wilderness;  make  straight  the  way  of  the 


42  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Lord,  as  said  Isaiah  the  prophet."  The  real  speaker  is 
the  Lord.  Isaiah  is  the  chronicler  and  John  the  voice. 
Carrying  Israel  back  in  its  experiences  to  the  dark  days 
of  its  history  spent  in  journeying  to  the  promised  land, 
this  voice  of  the  Lord  would  remind  Israel  of  the  simili- 
tude of  the  promised  occasion.  Again  Israel  was  spirit- 
ually wandering,  spiritually  at  sea,  spiritually  seeking  the 
path  to  Canaan  and  the  way  was  opening  before  it. 
Israel's  new  Canaan  was  not  to  be  a  temporal  habitation, 
but  an  eternal  presence  of  the  Lord.  Israel's  sin  was  being 
washed  away  by  John  as  he  brought  about  the  repentance 
of  at  least  some  of  those  who  heard  him,  but  after  all  the 
baptism  of  John  was  a  symbol,  not  to  be  compared  with 
the  regeneration  wrought  by  Christ.  John's  answer  to  the 
question  "who  art  thou"  ?  is  direct  and  specific.  He  is  the 
messenger  of  Christ,  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  at  one  with 
his  Master  and  his  God.  He  is  not  Christ.  He  is  not 
Elijah.  He  is  not  that  prophet.  He  is  the  path-breaker 
of  the  Messiah  for  many  men  and  women  who  other- 
wise would  not  have  been  ready  to  receive  their  Lord. 
And  that  is  just  what  you  are  to  be  during  this  Advent 
season,  a  path-finder  for  those  who  have  not  found  the 
path,  a  constructionist  for  those  who  have  lost  their  grip 
on  the  unseen  world,  a  unit  in  the  necessary  preparation 
for  the  comiing  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Who  art  thou  ? 
perhaps  the  humblest  of  the  children  of  God,  yet  able, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  to  point  the  way  to  those  who  do 
not  know  it  to  Bethlehem. 


V. 

CHRISTMAS   DAY. 

Luke  2:1,  11. 

"Now  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  there  went  out  a  decree  from 
Caesar  Augustus,  that  all  the  world  should  be  enrolled. 

"There  is  born  to  you  this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a  Savior,  who 
is  Christ  the  Lord." 

We  have  assembled  this  morning  to  attest  our  appre- 
ciation of  the  initial  stages  of  the  greatest  fact  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  a  deed  so  luminous,  it  at  once  be- 
comes the  logical  line  of  cleavage  between  all  that  has 
preceded  and  all  that  follows.  The  birth  of  a  babe  at 
Bethlehem  at  a  season  of  enrollment  ordered  by  Caesar 
Augustus  would  not  in  itself  have  been  an  object  worthy 
of  the  laudation  accorded  to  the  nativity,  even  if  that 
child  had,  in  growing  to  mature  manhood,  developed 
traits  of  genuine  human  greatness.  In  celebrating  the 
birthdays  of  men  of  great  renown,  leaders  of  their  age 
and  of  the  ages,  we  do  not  ordinarily  commemorate  the 
environment  in  which  they  were  born,  but  rather  the 
heights  to  which  they  attained.  We  admire  the  steadfast 
purpose,  the  undaunted  zeal,  which  leads  from  the  rude 
frontier  hut  to  the  place  of  unsurpassed  supremacy  in 
the  affections  of  a  people.  The  birth  of  the  babe  of 
Bethlehem  is  unique  in  the  annals  of  the  zvorld,  not  a.$! 
the  coining  into  this  world  of  a  babe  destined  to  attain 
human  greatness,  but  as  the  voluntary  surrender  by  God 
of  prerogatives  belonging  to  Him  as  God  in  order  that 
He  might  in  turn  assume  the  divine  prerogative  of  res- 
cuing humanity  from  sin  and  the  grave. 

The  narrator  of  the  gospel  history  has  not  by  chance 

43 


44  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

included  in  this  day's  lesson  the  name  of  the  reigning 
monarch  of  the  then-known  world.  He  has  not  by  chance 
introduced  that  name  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  story, 
long  before  the  introduction  of  the  name  of  the  babe 
born  in  an  insignificant  village  in  an  outlying  district  of 
the  great  Roman  empire,  over  which  Caesar  Augustus 
ruled.  Though  to  some  it  may  appear  improper  at  first 
sight  to  associate  any  other  name  with  the  name  of  Jesus 
on  this  day,  a  more  earnest  study  will  convince  us  of 
the  eminent  propriety  of  following  the  evangelist's  lead- 
ing in  our  endeavor  to  compare  and  to  contrast  Caesar 
Augustus  and  Jesus  the  Christ,  thereby  realizing  the 
supreme  significance  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  at  the  time 
and  under  the  circumstances  recorded. 

In  his  time  and  among  his  countrymen  the  Roman 
emperor,  designated  as  Caesar  Augustus  in  the  gospel 
narrative,  was  perhaps  better  known  as  Caius  Octavius, 
a  name  borne  by  his  father  as  well.  It  may  be  interest- 
ing to  follow  the  leadings  of  history  and  to  be  informed 
anew  that  he  was  the  grand-nephew  of  Julius  Caesar. 
It  may  be  interesting  to  recall  that  he  was  the  man  who 
occupied  the  throne  when  the  fullness  of  time,  spoken 
of  by  the  prophets,  had  come,  reigning  as  he  did  until 
the  year  14  of  the  Christian  era,  though  born  in  the  year 
63  of  the  pre-Christian  era.  Named  as  Caesar's  heir  in 
the  last  will  of  the  dictator,  he  proceeded  to  Rome  after 
the  assassination  of  his  illustrious  ancestor.  First  one 
of  a  triumvirate,  later,  the  sole  ruler  of  Rome,  Octavius 
was  proclaimed  emperor  of  the  country  which  ceased  to 
be  a  republic  and  began  its  existence  as  an  empire.  Soon 
after  the  title  Augustus  was  accorded  the  new  Caesar 
and  the  process  was  begun  by  him  whereby  he  gradually 
and  craftily  assumed  an  arbitrary  control  of  the  world- 
empire  of  his  day.  We  cannot  here  trace  the  steps  he 
took  to  subordinate  first  the  Senate  and  then  the  ever- 
growing military  power  of   Rome.     As  by  magic  he 


CH:RISTMAS  day  45 

rebuilt  or  built  anew  temples  of  the  gods  and'  prominent 
among  them  all,  the  temple  of  Julius  Caesar  in  the  forum 
itself.  He  ordered  the  construction  of  great  military 
highways,  connecting  every  part  of  his  vast  empire,  all 
of  these  highways  leading  from  or  to  Rome.  He  per- 
mitted divine  honors  to  be  paid  to  the  emperor  of  Rome 
as  the  embodiment  of  the  Roman  state.  He  established 
a  two-fold  office  of  priests,  the  provincial  priests  and  the 
city  priests,  the  former,  under  his  direct  supervision, 
taking  precedence  and  carrying  out  his  wishes.  Rome 
had  grown  mightily.  Within  the  confines  of  the  city  of 
Rome  and  within  the  borders  of  the  empire  Judaism 
existed,  but  only  as  a  despised,  rebellious  outcast  race  of 
perverts,  seditiously  inclined,  in  open  antagonism  to  the 
military  and  spiritual  power  of  the  empire.  The  real 
god  of  Rome  was  the  Roman  emperor,  Caesar  Augustus, 
whose  conspiracies  had  established  his  throne,  whose  zeal 
was  primarily  directed  to  the  perpetuation  of  his  own 
name  and  that  of  his  family,  who  stepped'  upon  the  dead 
bodies  of  fallen  foes  and  had  little  or  no  time  for  the 
reeking  conditions  of  immorality  in  his  empire  or  even 
in  his  home  until  it  was  entirely  too  late  to  rectify  them. 
In  all  the  tabulation  of  the  gods  of  the  nations  of  all 
ages  there  is  no  more  flagrant  illustration  of  their  noth- 
ingness than  that  afforded  by  the  god  of  Rome  as  he 
came  to  be  designated  and  known  in  the  provinces.  There 
was  no  dearth  of  outward  pomp  and  magnificence.  Rome 
was  a  mighty  empire.  The  Caesar  of  Rome  was  a 
mighty  but  soulless  man,  at  once  emperor  and  slave. 

Have  you  ever  arrayed  side  by  side  the  contemporaries, 
the  emperor  of  Rome  and  the  King  of  Kings?  Thus 
and  thus  alone  you  will  be  able  to  understand  the  sig- 
nificance of  this  day  and  season.  A  comparison  such  as 
this  completely  disproves  the  validity  of  human  standards 
in  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  life  and  introduces  a 
new  standard  for  our  consideration.     Caesar  Augustus 


46  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

represents  human  power  at  its  height.  A  mighty  general, 
he  leads  his  armies,  after  the  cessation  of  foreign  hos- 
tilities into  the  camps  of  his  own  countrymen,  engaged 
in  civil  strife,  subdues  one  after  the  other  of  his  enemies, 
enters  the  very  camp  of  his  rival,  by  his  pleadings  per- 
suades his  erstwhile  enemies  to  be  his  followers  and 
establishes  a  temporal  reign  of  vast  power  and  extent. 
On  the  other  hand,  Jesus  Christ  represents  human  help- 
lessness at  its  height.  The  leader  of  a  little  band  of 
fishermen  and  untutored  Galileans,  he  is  driven  from 
his  own  hamlet  by  a  hostile  group  of  his  fellow  citizens, 
he  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men  in  a  rural  province, 
forsaken  by  his  own  disciples,  his  own  claims  of  royalty 
mocked  by  the  putting  upon  his  head  a  crown  of  thorns 
and  in  his  hand  a  reed,  the  same  claims  still  further 
caricatured  by  the  inscription  placed  upon  the  cross: 
"Jesus  of  Nazareth  (not  of  Rome),  the  King  of  the 
Jews"  (not  of  the  Romans).  Surely  his  words  found 
their  fulfilment:  "My  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 
Have  you  ever  thought  of  Caesar  Augustus  and  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  exponents  of  diametrically  opposed  pro- 
grams for  their  constituency?  We  cannot  stop  to  speak 
of  the  line  of  cleavage  in  their  home  relationships,  of 
the  disparity  between  Rome  and  Bethlehem  or  Nazareth, 
nor  of  the  many  things  that  tended  to  separate  these 
two  kings.  The  real  lesson  for  this  day  lies  in  the 
presentation  of  the  diametrically  opposed  programs  of 
Caesar  and  Jesus. 

Augustus  realized  that  Rome  must  have  a  ruler.  His 
view  was  that  later  stated  academically  by  the  Philosopher 
Hobbes  in  asserting  that  man's  natural  tendencies  are 
"self-regarding".  Caesar  would  bring  men  to  his  feet. 
He  would  wage  warfare  until  he  had  accomplished  his 
purpose.  He  did  accomplish  that  purpose  tempo- 
rarily. The  program  of  Caesar  Augustus  was  a  program 
of  dictatorship,  his  conscience  was  the  law  of  Rome,  his 


CHRISTMAS  DAY  47 

purpose  the  exaltation  of  self,  which,  of  course,  included 
the  exaltation  of  Rome  as  a  necessary  factor.  Perhaps 
we  would  not  be  too  harsh  in  our  judgment  of  Augustus 
if  we  fully  realized  that  he  but  expressed  the  legal  pro- 
gram and  attitude  of  Rome,  which,  as  was  later  shown 
in  the  trial  of  Jesus,  was  not  altogether  unlike  the  legal- 
istic program  and  life  of  Israel. 

As  over  against  a  purpose  such  as  this,  the  purpose 
indicated  in  Christ's  coming  into  the  world  and  an- 
nounced by  the  angel  to  the  shepherds  upon  the  fields 
of  Bethlehem  is  simply  unique  and  marks  an  era  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  in  its  thought  and  in  its  life.  Of 
course,  you  remember  the  message:  "Be  not  afraid; 
for  behold  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy  which 
shall  be  to  all  the  people:  for  there  is  born  unto  you 
this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a  Savior  who  is  Christ  the 
Lord.  And  this  is  a  sign  unto  you:  ye  shall  find  a  babe 
wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  and  lying  in  a  manger." 
The  chorus  of  the  accompanying  host  is  the  essential 
consummation  of  the  message:  "Glory  to  God'  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace  among  men  in  whom  he 
is  well  pleased."  Thus  the  message  is  not  by  heralds 
who  have  been  specially  chosen,  specially  commissioned, 
specially  appareled,  specially  drilled,  to  proclaim  the 
assumption  of  the  crown  by  a  ruler  of  the  world,  but  it 
is  the  message  of  God  to  the  children  of  men,  announced 
by  those  who  appreciate  and  fully  understand  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  errand  upon  which  they  have  been  sent. 
Caesar  Augustus,  the  slayer  of  men;  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Savior  of  men!  For  ages  and  ages  in  the  economy  of 
the  world  individuality  had  been  emphasized  by  a  process 
of  self-regarding.  Even  the  kings  and  prophets  of  Israel 
were  not  free  from  guilt  in  this  respect.  Moses  the  law- 
giver placed  himself,  his  own  personality,  his  own  inter- 
ests, his  own  misgivings  so  prominently  in  the  path  of 
God,  he  temporarily  at  times  obstructed  God's  plan  for 


48  SERMONS!  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

men  and  their  salvation.  For  the  first  time  in  the  econ- 
omy of  the  world  individuality  was  to  achieve  power  and 
bestow  it  upon  others  by  self-renunciation,  self-sacrifice. 
"Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God,  Savior  of  the  world,"  this 
was  a  motto  of  the  early  Christians.  The  fact  expressed 
by  the  words  "Savior  of  the  world"  was  unique  in  its 
realization.  As  an  idea  it  had  been  thought  of  before, 
but  as  a  fact  it  had  never  been  an  object  of  thought. 
Now  in  a  single  moment  of  time  the  angelic  message 
conveyed  to  the  shepherds  as  trustees  of  the  ages  and 
the  peoples  changes  the  idealism  of  prophets,  the  intima- 
tions of  heathen  philosophers,  the  incoherent  desires  of 
the  nations  into  a  reality.  The  oftentimes  meaningless 
sacrifices  of  Israel,  meaningless  to  the  prophets,  wrongly 
significant  to  the  people,  become  surcharged  with  mean- 
ing, as  the  embodiment  of  an  idea  never  realized  until 
realized  in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem.  The  greatest  prin- 
ciple in  all  the  world  was  suddenly  actualized  as  the 
passion  history  of  Jesus  began  at  Bethlehem.  It  is  not 
because  others  have  chanted  a  refrain,  but  "we  believe, 
for  we  have  heard  for  ourselves,  and  know  that  this  is 
indeed  the  Savior  of  the  world". 

Friends,  let  us  not  shrink  from  the  truth!  Let  us  be 
perfectly  frank  and  honest  in  admitting  with  all  our 
hearts  that  the  Incarnation  was  rendered  necessary,  not 
because  Caesar  Augustus  was  a  monster  of  iniquity  be- 
side whom  all  other  men,  all  other  rulers  sink  into  insig- 
nificance, but  because  he  was  sinxply  a  representative, 
and  a  worthy  representative  of  his  time,  as  he  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  looked  upon  as  a  worthy  repre- 
sentative of  our  time  if  it  were  not  for  the  Incarnation. 
Even  today  the  estimate  of  Caesar  Augustus  is  apt  to  be 
very  conservative  among  those  who  endeavor  to  eliminate 
Christ  and  His  influence  from  their  lives.  Picture  your 
life  and  mine  without  Christ  and  you  have  a  portrait  of 
Caesar  Augustus.     Perhaps  the  sins  which  loom  largest 


CHRISTMAS  DAY  49 

in  him  are  subordinate  to  other  sins  in  others  who  live 
without  Christ,  but  the  effect  is  the  same,  because  all 
those  who  live  without  Christ  cannot  help  but  be  mon- 
sters of  iniquity. 

There  are  stages  in  human  conduct  and  life  which  stand 
for  attitudes  toward  religion.  In  the  first  stage,  no 
apologies  are  needed  for  the  transgression  of  law,  for 
where  law  is  divorced  from  religion  it  is  not  intended  for 
those  who  are  in  authority  and  exercises  no  sway  over 
those  who  do  not  admit  its  validity,  as  is  the  case  with 
those  who  deem  themselves  enlightened.  The  first  stage 
is  that  of  the  man  and  woman  who  beckon  to  their  neigh- 
bors and  say:  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  tomorrow  we 
die.  This  was  the  stage  and  the  attitude  of  Caesar 
Augustus,  as  it  is  the  plane  of  existence  of  those  who,  in 
their  personal  life,  repudiate  religion,  even  though  they 
may  build  temples  and  sacrifice  to  the  gods  as  a  harmless 
custom  and  one  to  be  encouraged  for  the  sake  of  the 
masses. 

In  the  second  stage,  apologies  are  needed,  for  there 
is  a  recognition  of  the  validity  and  the  hardness  of  the 
law.  Life  is  lived  in  accordance  with  certain  standards 
because  the  world  holds  these  standards  to  be  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  society.  Man  conforms  to  them  not 
because  he  is  convinced  of  the  rightness  of  his  action  per 
se,  but  because  he  would  be  ashamed  of  being  caught  in 
doing  what  is  considered  wrong.  To  him  God  is  law,  and 
he  lives  a  life  of  serfdom  to  the  law  while  cherishing 
anarchic  thoughts  within  his  heart.  Let  us  go  a  step 
further,  and  admit  that  there  may  be  men  and  women 
who,  without  positive  religious  convictions,  may  look 
up  to,  prize  and  reverence  law,  yet  are  they  not  slaves, 
serving  man-made,  hence  imperfect,  ordinances? 

These  are  the  pictures  of  man  without  Christ.  You 
must  paint  him  either  as  a  slave  or  an  anarchist,  a  slave 
to  law,  a  slave  to  sin,  a  slave  to  society,  a  slave  to  him- 


50  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

self,  or  an  anarchist  because,  with  Caesar  Augustus,  he 
is  ready  to  reign  at  any  price,  treading  men  under  foot 
and  crushing  out  their  lives  for  the  good  of  self  or  the 
state. 

There  is  a  third  stage  of  human  life  and  conduct 
which,  admitting  the  fallacy  and  the  sin  in  the  two  stages 
pictured,  the  absolute  injustice  on  the  one  hand  of 
trampling  the  law  under  foot,  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  sin  of  making  the  law  to  be  one's  god,  rests  its  claims 
solely  upon  the  gospel  of  the  love  of  God,  a  love  which 
manifests  itself  most  clearly  in  the  sending  forth  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  Redeemer  of  the  world.  If  there 
need  be  a  choice  today,  and  there  must  be,  between  Caesar 
Augustus,  not  as  a  power  ordained  of  God,  but  as  a  god, 
and  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  it  will  not  be  difficult 
for  you  to  decide  the  question. 

We  are  interested  in  the  little  pilgrimage  from  Naz- 
areth to  Bethlehem  many,  many  years  ago,  in  the  sojourn 
without  the  inn,  in  the  birth  of  the  babe  of  Bethlehem, 
in  the  shepherds  and  the  angelic  message,  because  these 
incidents  are  parts  of  the  most  wonderful  story  ever 
told,  parts  of  the  greatest  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  parts  of  the  deed  of  God  that  shall  go  ringing 
down  through  the  ages  as  fathers  and  sons,  mothers  and 
daughters  recognizing  the  personal  equation  in  it  all 
shall  catch  up  and  continue  to  sound  forth  the  refrain: 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace  among 
men  in  whom  he  is  well  pleased." 


VI. 
SECOND   CHRISTMAS   DAY. 

Luke  2:  17-20. 

"And  when  they  saw  it,  they  made  known  concerning  the  saying 
Avhich  was  spoken  to  them  concerning  this  child.  And  all  that  heard 
it  wondered  at  the  things  which  were  spoken  unto  them  by  the  shep- 
herds. But  Mary  kept  all  these  sayings,  pondering  them  in  her  heart. 
And  the  shepherds  returned,  glorifying  and  praising  God  for  all  the 
things  that  they  had  heard  and  seen  even  as  it  was  spoken  unto 
themi." 

The  gospel  lesson  for  Christmas  Day  is  incomplete 
without  the  lesson  for  the  second  Christmas  Day.  The 
gospel  lesson  for  Christmas  Day  contains  the  great  an- 
nouncement of  the  manifestation  of  God's  love  for  man- 
kind. The  lesson  for  this  day  is  its  sequel.  Yesterday 
we  saw  the  shepherds  upon  the  field  listening  to  the 
angel's  story  while  watching  their  flocks.  Today  we  see 
those  same  shepherds  deciding  to  leave  their  flocks  for 
a  little  while  in  order  that  they  might  verify  the  angel's 
announcement  and  accept  his  invitation.  Today's  gospel 
speaks  to  us  of  the  successive  steps  in  our  Christian  life 
as  it  reminds  us  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Christ  Child 
is  revealed  unto  and  within  us,  for  after  all,  the  method 
pursued  in  the  instance  of  the  shepherds  is  that  still 
pursued  in  your  life  and  in  mine. 

The  Christ  was  revealed  to  the  shepherds  first  of  all 
through  hearing.  In  this  respect  their  faith  was  engen- 
dered in  the  manner  indicated  as  the  normal  method  of 
procedure  by  Paul  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans.  In  the 
seventeenth  verse  of  the  tenth  chapter  of  that  letter  Paul 
says:     "So  belief  cometh  of  hearing  and  hearing  by  the 

51 


52  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

word  of  Christ."  It  was  not  only  the  word  of  the  Father 
transmitted  through  the  medium  of  angels  to  which  the 
shepherds  listened  out  there  upon  the  field,  they  were 
listening  as  well  to  the  word  of  the  eternal  Christ  Who 
had  surrendered  certain  prerogatives  voluntarily  that  He 
might  be  born  of  a  virgin.  Had  the  shepherds  been  un- 
willing or  unprepared  to  listen  when  the  glory  of  the 
Lord,  in  which  the  angel  appeared,  shone  round  about 
them,  they  would  have  sacrificed  the  prestige  which  has 
been  theirs  from  that  day  to  this.  Was  it  not  because 
they  were  more  ready  to  hear,  because  they  were  more 
receptive  than  were  the  leaders  of  the  people,  the  Phari- 
sees and  Scribes,  the  rich  and  the  learned,  the  priests 
and  the  high-priest,  that  the  angel  appeared  to  them 
rather  than  to  the  standard  bearers  of  Israelitic  religion  ? 
They  whose  ears  had  become  acute  in  the  stillness  of  a 
night  that  might  forebode  either  life  or  death  for  the 
flocks  committed  to  their  care  were  more  ready  to  receive 
the  angel's  message  than  were  they  whose  nightly  wrang- 
lings  about  matters  concerning  the  law  had  forced  them 
to  stop  their  own  ears  for  which  they  had  less  use  than 
for  their  tongues.  The  shepherds  had  found  it  not  only 
desirable,  but  very  necessary  to  develop  their  faculties 
for  intensive  use.  Their  solitary  occupation  demanded 
the  cultivation  of  the  sense  of  hearing  and  then  the  culti- 
vation of  their  sense  of  sight.  The  former  of  these  facul- 
ties needed  to  be  exercised  during  the  watches  of  the 
night,  the  latter  during  the  watches  of  the  day.  The 
environment  of  these  shepherds  fitted  them  for  their  life 
work,  but  this  environment  would  not  in  itself  have  fitted 
them  for  their  work  if  they  had  not  studied  their  environ- 
ment. How  many  Christians  of  today  are  there  who 
never  advance  very  far  in  their  Christianity  because 
neither  eyes  nor  ears  have  been  trained,  and,  of  course, 
hearts  and  minds  are,  to  a  certain  extent  at  least,  depen- 
dent upon  eyes  and  ears.    There  is  something  very  fascin- 


SECOND   CHRISTMAS    DAY  53 

ating  about  the  stories  of  the  American  Indians,  whose 
trained  ears  and  eyes  have  made  it  possible  for  them 
to  scent  danger  where  their  white  companions  have 
neither  seen  nor  heard  anything.  If  it  is  necessary  to 
cultivate  the  faculties  which  God  has  given  us  that  we 
may  be  ready  to  meet  the  problems  of  our  every-day 
temporal  life,  how  much  more  necessary  is  it  to  practice 
hearing  in  our  spiritual  life  ere  we  shall  essay  to  be 
teachers.  How  necessary  it  is  also  to  distinguish  between 
the  voice  of  the  good  shepherd  and  the  voice  of  the  hire- 
ling or  the  robber.  The  shepherds  on  Bethlehemi's  field 
recognized  the  voice  of  the  angel  as  the  voice  of  the  good 
shepherd  and  followed  that  voice  to  its  source.  The  voice 
to  which  they  were  permitted  to  listen  was  not  a  voice 
of  alarm  but  of  encouragement,  not  a  danger  signal,  but 
a  call  of  relief  and  helpfulness.  The  news  of  the  coming 
of  the  Christ  Child  very  naturally  produced  astonish- 
ment. The  shepherds  on  hearing  the  news  were  aston- 
ished. "And  all  that  heard  it  wondered  at  the  things 
which  were  spoken  unto  them  by  the  shepherds." 
Wherever  the  news  traveled  it  was  received  in  the  same 
way. 

The  second  step  in  the  revelation  of  the  Christ 
Child  must  be  a  sense  of  astonishment.  Otherwise  we 
could  not  legitimately  look  upon  it  as  news  of  a  vital 
sort.  Perhaps  the  nearest  appproach  to  the  intensity  of 
the  astonishment  produced  by  the  coming  of  the  Christ 
Child  upon  the  minds  of  the  shepherds  in  our  own  day 
was  the  sense  of  utter  astonishment  when  in  the  early 
days  of  August,  1914,  we  read  of  events  which  were 
happening  which  somehow  left  us  staggering  as  we 
realized  that  the  very  foundations  of  the  world  were 
being  shaken.  The  inadequacy  of  the  religious  life  of 
most  of  us  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  news  of  the  coming 
of  Jesus  Christ  into  this  world  has  gripped  us  less 
effectively  than  the  announcement  of  the  beginning  of 


54  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  world  war.  The  news  of  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  constructive,  that  of  the  downfall  of  nations  is  destruc- 
tive. We  are  better  fitted  to  receive  and  communicate 
information  concerning  the  world's  destructive  agencies 
than  we  are  to  receive  and  communicate  the  plans  of 
God  for  man's  salvation.  The  astonishment  of  all  that 
heard  the  news  in  Jesus'  day  need  not  trouble  us  nearly 
as  much  as  the  indifiference  with  which  the  news  is  re- 
ceived in  our  own  day.  The  foundations  of  the  world 
must  be  shaken  if  the  world  is  to  be  rebuilt.  The  foun- 
dations of  individual  life  need  to  be  shaken  if  the  indi- 
vidual soul  is  to  be  aroused  from  its  torpor  and  made 
fully  awake  and  alive  to  the  presence  of  the  Christ  in 
our  world.  The  coming  of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world 
produced  astonishment.  The  teaching  of  the  twelve-year- 
old  boy  and  of  the  mature  man  produced  astonishment. 
The  miracles  of  the  Christ  produced  astonishment.  The 
answers  of  Jesus  produced  astonishment.  The  death  of 
Jesus  produced  astonishment.  The  resurrection  of  Jesus 
produced  astonishment.  The  appearance  of  the  risen 
Christ  produced  astonishment.  The  ascension  of  Christ 
produced  astonishment.  Real  Christians  of  today  must 
be  astonished  that  these  facts  no  longer  produce  astonish- 
ment. 

We  are  told  that  "Mary  kept  all  these  sayings, 
pondering  them  in  her  heart".  This  constitutes  the  third 
step  in  the  revelation  of  the  Christ  Child  within  our 
lives.  If  we  would  know  anything  about  the  Christ  we 
must  open  our  ears  to  the  gospel  proclamation  of  the 
angels  as  did  the  shepherds.  If  we  have  opened  our 
ears  to  this  message  and  have  caught  its  significance  we 
must  have  been  stunned  just  a  bit.  Our  astonishment 
is  not,  however,  to  be  the  last  step  in  our  Christian  devel- 
opment. Astonishment  must  yield  to  meditation.  Why 
are  we  told  all  these  things?  Is  there  no  purpose  in  the 
proclamation?     Is   there   no   relationship  between   the 


SECOND   CHRISTMAS    DAY  55 

various  parts  of  this  gospel  proclamation?     Is  there  no 
point  of  contact  between  the  birth  of  Christ  and  His 
passion  and  death  ?    Is  there  no  relationship  between  His 
death  and  His  resurrection  ?    Is  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
not  closely  associated  with  His  ascension?    Is  His  ascen- 
sion not  closely  associated  with  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit?     You  see,  do  you  not,  why  it  is  necessary 
for  Simeon  to  chill  a  mother's  optimism  a  bit  by  an- 
nouncing to  her:    "Behold,  this  child  is  set  for  the  falling 
and  rising  of  many  in  Israel;  and  for  a  sign  which  is 
spoken  against:  yea  and  a  sword  shall  pierce  through 
thine  own  soul;  that  thoughts  out  of  many  hearts  may 
be  revealed."     Mary  needed  to  place  side  by  side  the 
various  messages  concerning  Jesus  for  the  establishment 
of  a  true  as  over  against  a  false  faith  in  her  own  heart. 
She  was  perhaps  the  least  ostentatious,   but  the  most 
hopeful  of  those  who  had  received  the  message.     The 
sort  of  meditation  in  which  we  can  only  engage  after 
having  heard  the  entire  angelic  sermon,  the  sort  of  medi- 
tation in  which  we  can  engage  only  after  having  listened 
to  the  Christ  Himself,  the  sort  of  meditation  that  cannot 
be  finished  in  a  noon-day  service  or  a  half  hour  at  home, 
the  sort  of  meditation  that  requires  concentration  and 
much  time,  the  pondering  of  these  things  for  years  as 
Mary  did,  this  is  the  sort  of  meditation  that  can  alone 
bring  us  nearer  the  goal  of  an  adequate  revelation  of  the 
Christ  Child.     Luther  said  that  prayer,  meditation  and 
temptation  go  to  the  making  of  a  theologian.     These 
things  go  into  the  making  of  the  child  of  God  as  well. 
The  fourth  step  in  the  revelation  of  the  Christ  Child 
within  us  is  the  voluntary,   gladsome  proclamation  to 
others  of  the  news  which  we  ourselves  have  received. 
The  story  tells  us  that  "when  they  saw  it,  they  made 
known  concerning  the  saying  which  was  spoken  to  them 
about  this  child".     They  had  heard  and  they  had  seen. 
They,  the  shepherds,  were  to  be  the  first  pastors  and 


56  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

preachers  of  Christ  from  among  men.  They  were  no 
more  tutored  in  speech  than  were  the  disciples  when  they 
first  became  disciples  of  Christ.  They  had  no  training  in 
the  accompaniments  of  oratory.  They  had  a  message. 
That  was  all.  That  was  all  that  was  necessary.  Paul 
Revere  was  the  sort  of  preacher  they  were.  He  had  a 
message  and  it  was  necessary  to  communicate  his  message 
as  rapidly  as  possible  to  the  greatest  number  of  persons. 
Paul  Revere's  message  as  his  steed  went  galloping  down 
the  village  street  was  conveyed  with  somewhat  of  the 
intensity  with  which  the  shepherds  made  known  concern- 
ing the  things  spoken  to  them  about  this  child.  Paul 
Revere  simply  could  not  do  otherwise  than  he  did  and, 
of  course,  the  shepherds  could  not  have  done  otherwise 
than  they  did.  If  the  passion  to  tell  your  friends  some- 
thing about  your  own  hopes  and  something  about  your 
own  faith  has  never  taken  hold  of  you  there  has  been 
no  adequate  revelation  of  the  Christ  within  you.  If  you 
believe  Jesus  Christ  to  be  the  light  of  the  world  and  then 
try  to  hide  that  light  under  a  bushel,  you  are  a  traitor 
both  to  Him  and  to  yourself.  If  you  wish  to  know 
why  it  is  that  orthodox  Christianity  has  fallen  into  dis- 
repute and  why  it  is  that  false  teachings  have  become 
popular,  you  need  but  ask  yourself  how  much  time  you 
have  spent  and  are  spending  in  the  proclamation  of  what 
you  believe  to  be  the  truth.  We  need  more  shepherds, 
more  physicians  like  Luke,  more  tentmakers  like  Paul, 
more  men  and  women  engaged  in  the  walks  of  everyday 
life  whose  one  great  absorbing  passion  it  is  and  shall 
be  to  know  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  Crucified.  The  laity 
cannot,  with  any  degree  of  justice  or  success,  absolve 
itself  by  placing  the  blame  for  things  as  they  are  upon 
an  inefficient  ministry.  We  have  said  the  shepherds  were 
not  professional  preachers,  but  they  were  convincing 
witnesses  of  the  Word  which  they  disseminated. 

We  have  traced  the  steps  which  are  necessary  in  order 


SECOND   CHRISTMAS    DAY  57 

that  the  Christ  Child  may  be  revealed  to  us  and  within  us. 
But  one  thing  remains  to  be  said.  The  shepherds  under- 
went a  very  remarkable  transformation  because  of  their 
experiences.  We  read  "and  the  shepherds  returned, 
glorifying  and  praising  God  for  all  the  things  that  they 
had  heard  and  seen,  even  as  it  was  spoken  unto  them". 
A  little  while  ago  as  we  looked  upon  them  huddled  to- 
gether on  Bethlehem's  field  we  saw  that  they  were  sore 
afraid.  They  had  had  many  experiences  in  their  lonely 
careers  as  shepherds,  some  of  them  undoubtedly  quite 
uncanny.  They  had  never  had  any  experience  such  as 
that  which  had  now  become  part  of  their  lives.  It  was 
not  surprising  that  they  were  afraid.  It  is  equally  patent 
that,  having  heard  the  angel's  message,  having  gone  to 
Bethlehem,  having  seen  the  Christ  Child,  having  been 
permitted  to  proclaim  the  good  tidings  to  others,  they 
returned  in  a  different  frame  of  mind.  They  had  seen 
the  Christ.  It  speaks  well  for  them  that  their  real 
Christmas  celebration  did  not  occur  while  on  the  way  to 
Bethlehem,  nor  while  at  the  manger,  but  that  their  real 
Christmas  celebration  was  a  subsequent  act.  They  could 
not  join  with  the  angels  in  the  "Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest"  while  filled  with  astonishment  and  amazement, 
but  they  did  join  with  the  Samaritan  healed  of  his 
leprosy  in  not  forgetting  the  mercies  of  God  as  soon  as 
those  mercies  had  manifested  themselves  unto  them.  As 
the  shepherds  return  to  their  alloted  tasks  in  life  they 
are  lost  to  view,  but  their  work  is  not  ended.  Their 
hymns  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  sing  themselves  down 
through  the  ages.  Our  lives  have  been  strengthened  be- 
cause of  our  contact  with  their  lives,  just  as  their  lives 
have  been  strengthened  because  of  their  contact  with  the 
Christ  Child. 


VII. 
SUNDAY  AFTER  CHRISTMAS. 

Luke  2:34,  35,  38. 

"And  Simeon  blessed  them  and  said  mito  Mary  his  mother,  Be- 
hold, this  child  is  set  for  the  falling  and  rising  up  of  many  in 
Israel ;  and  for  a  sign  which  is  spoken  against ;  yea  and  a  sword 
shall  pierce  through  thine  own  soul ;  that  thoughts  out  of  many 
hearts  may  be  revealed. 

"And  coming  up  at  that  very  hour  she  (Anna)  gave  thanks  unto 
God  and  spake  of  him  to  all  that  were  looking  for  the  redemption  of 
Jerusalem." 

It  is  not  the  easiest  thing  imaginable  to  take  a  child 
from  imderneath  the  branches  of  the  Christmas  tree, 
from  toys  that  are  alluring,  from  new  books  that  have  a 
peculiar  charm,  from  sweets  that  are  tempting,  and  from 
companions  filled  with  the  joyous  spirit  of  Christmas- 
tide  that  evinces  itself  in  a  local  setting,  to  a  nook  opposite 
the  tree  in  order  to  speak  to  the  child  seriously  and 
wholeheartedly  of  the  real  meaning  of  the  birth  of  Jesus 
into  this  world.  Difficult  as  the  task  may  be,  it  is  im- 
portant and  essential  if  the  child  is  to  learn  one  of  the 
greatest  lessons  of  life.  As  it  is  not  easy  to  draw  the 
child  from  its  toys,  it  is  sometimes  very  much  more 
difficult  to  draw  adults  from  a  purely  superficial,  tem- 
poral celebration,  from  feastings  and  journeyings,  from 
good-natured  felicitations  and  buoyant  hilarity  to  a  seri- 
ous consideration  of  the  meaning  of  the  nativity.  And 
yet  that  is  just  exactly  what  the  gospel  lesson  for  this 
day  seeks  to  achieve.  Joseph  and  Mary  have  been  bask- 
ing in  the  joyous  realization  of  a  new  life.  The  troubled 
journey  to  Bethlehem   is  ended.     The  shepherds  have 

58 


SUNDAY  AFTER  CHRISTMAS  59 

appeared  and  have  worshipped  and  lauded  the  babe  in 
the  manger  at  Bethlehem.  Others  have  followed  in  the 
train  of  the  shepherds  until  the  foster  father  and  the 
mother  are  bewildered  and  marvel  at  the  homage  paid 
their  child.  Joseph  and  Mary  are  not  to  suffer  the  effects 
of  an  illusion.  They  are  not  to  go  further  without  being 
informed  of  the  real  significance  of  this  child's  birth  and, 
lest  those  who  have  been  anxiously  waiting  for  the  con- 
solation of  Israel  shall  be  deceived  into  believing  false 
teachings  and  shall  be  aroused  to  false  hopes,  they,  too, 
are  to  be  recipients  of  an  important  message.  This  day's 
sermon  is  addressed  to  those  who  are  Christ's  and  to 
them  who  ought  to  be  Christ's  and  speaks  to  them  clearly 
of  the  life  which  is  to  be  theirs  in  consequence  of  this 
birth. 

There  are  two  very  distorted  views  of  Christian  life 
and  its  manifestation  current  among  us.  According  to 
the  first  of  these  opinions  Christianity  cannot  be  thought 
of  otherwise  than  as  a  constant  feeling  of  buoyancy,  a 
constant  joy,  an  undying  sense  of  pleasure  and  gratifica- 
tion. The  story  of  the  man  who  was  very  successful 
in  his  daily  work  because  he  made  it  a  rule  of  his  life 
to  be  cheerful  at  all  times  impresses  our  age  much  more 
than  the  story  of  the  prophets  whose  burdens  were  at 
times  almost  too  heavy  for  them  and  caused  them  to  be 
very  much  dejected,  or  even  the  story  of  "the  Man  of 
Sorrows"  Who  was  acquainted  with  grief.  One  of  the 
fundamental  teachings  of  a  sect  in  our  midst  that  has 
been  making  inroads  among  us,  concerns  the  cheerful 
demeanor  of  its  devotees  toward  each  other  and  those 
without  their  own  fold.  In  the  ranks  of  this  sect  it  is 
looked  upon  as  heresy  to  vent  grief,  to  express  sorrow, 
to  acknowledge  pain,  to  be  downcast.  Religion  to  such 
persons  as  these  is  an  onward  march  toward  the  light, 
and  there  must  be  no  obstacles,  no  obstructions  of  any 
sort,  no  hindrances  placed  in  the  path.     It  is  necessary 


6-0  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

to  ignore  or  discount  shadows.  Many  critics  of  the 
Christian  church  assume  this  attitude  in  their  discus- 
sions concerning  the  necessary  manifestation  of  Chris- 
tian Hfe. 

According  to  the  second  distorted  view  of  Christianity 
current  among  us,  a  view  not  held  by  the  critics  of  the 
church,  but  by  some  devout  members  of  the  church, 
Christianity  cannot  be  thought  of  seriously  otherwise 
than  as  a  groaning  by  night  and  by  day,  an  agonizing 
which,  though  it  cannot  find  adequate  expression,  is 
intelligible  to  a  large  circle.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  mon- 
astery and  the  convent,  the  spirit  of  the  desert  and  the 
wilderness,  the  outburst  of  the  only  remembered  word 
of  psalmody:  "how  long,  O  Lord,  how  long"?  It  sees 
no  legitimate  pleasure  in  the  Christmas  tree.  It  has  no 
place  for  carols  in  its  hymnody.  Christianity  consists  in 
one  torment  after  the  other,  with  no  joy  in  sight  until 
the  gates  of  heaven  are  reached. 

The  gospel  lesson  for  this  day  indicates  very  clearly 
that  the  whole  truth  cannot  be  found  in  either  of  these 
views  of  life,  that  Christianity  is  neither,  on  the  one 
hand,  a  constant  manifestation  of  outward  joy  and 
pleasure,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  a  manifestation  of 
unyielding  pain  and  loneliness  and  sorrow.  The  grand- 
parent seated  on  the  couch  over  against  the  Christmas 
tree,  having  experienced  the  various  moods  of  life,  having 
remained  true  to  the  gospel  of  Christ  throughout  life,  is 
best  fitted  to  tell  both  children  and  adults  somewhat  of 
the  meaning  of  Jesus'  birth.  The  aged  prophet  and 
prophetess,  who  have  spent  so  much  of  life  in  and  near 
the  temple,  are  well  fitted  to  speak  to  us  today  as  they 
desire  to  convey  the  message  of  the  two-fold  meaning 
and  manifestation  of  Christian  life.  Joy  and  sorrow, 
peace  and  war,  happiness  and  unhappiness,  these  opposing 
factors  are  to  continue  their  existence  upon  earth,  not 
in  the  confused,  at  times  muffled,  indistinct  intermingling 


SUNDAY  AFTER  CHRISTMAS  6'i 

hitherto  noticeable,  but  in  a  clearly  defined,  well-under- 
stood, appreciable  struggle  within  the  same  breast  of 
emotions  diametrically  opposed  to  each  other.  The 
preaching  of  Simeon  and  of  Anna  outlined  in  this  day's 
lesson  is  radically  different,  and  yet  they  do  not  disagree. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  emphasize  supplementary  truths. 
In  considering  these  truths  separately  and  then  molding 
them  into  a  closely  welded  conception  of  Christian  life  we 
shall  have  accomplished  a  very  concrete  and  important 
purpose. 

Transitional  eras  demand  heroic  figures.  The  period 
of  turning  from  a  covenant  of  type  to  a  covenant  of 
fulfilment  calls  for  patience,  calmness,  a  keen  vision  and, 
above  all,  an  invincible  faith.  If  we  could  throw  upon 
the  screen  the  portraitures  of  those  who  were  chosen 
to  take  part  in  this  great  era  we  should  undoubtedly  call 
forth  many  expressions  of  astonishment  at  the  unthought 
of  resources  of  God  called  into  play  whenever  the  occa- 
sion demands.  Of  all  the  heroes  of  this  era  undoubtedly 
John  the  Baptist  stands  first,  but  Simeon  is  not  far 
behind.  An  aged  man,  he  appears  upon  the  scene  with 
all  the  authority  of  the  past.  An  interested  participant 
in  the  greatest  deed  of  his  day,  he  appears  before  us 
as  one  vitally  interested  in  the  present.  A  seer  of  re- 
markable vision,  he  appears  to  all  ages  the  leader  of  a 
great  choir  whose  sphere  it  is  throughout  the  ages  to 
chant  a  hymn  of  praise  and  of  salvation.  The  message 
of  this  remarkable  man,  not  in  and  through  the  words 
of  the  Nunc  Dimittis,  but  as  it  is  addressed  to  Mary 
specifically  is  of  vast  significance  to  all  who  are  willing 
to  ascribe  allegiance  to  the  new-born  king.  "Behold,  this 
child  is  set  for  the  falling  and  rising  up  of  many  in 
Israel ;  and  for  a  sign  which  is  spoken  against ;  yea,  and 
a  sword  shall  pierce  through  thine  own  soul ;  that  thoughts 
out  of  many  hearts  may  be  revealed."  Simeon  rightly 
distinguished  between  the  sham  religion  of  his  day  and 


6f2  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

real  religion.  He  knew  there  must  be  a  separation  of  the 
chaff  from  the  wheat.  He  knew  there  were  many  round 
about  him  engaging  in  the  temple  service,  many  eagerly 
repeating  the  terms  "Lord,  Lord"  who  did  not  know 
their  Lord  and  would  not  know  Him  on  His  appearance. 
He  recognized,  as  few  of  his  age  did,  the  line  of  cleavage 
which  would  be  established  forever  by  the  coming  of  the 
Christ  Child.  He  could  see  with  prophetic  eye  the  sep- 
aration being  effected  whereby  fathers  and  mothers, 
brothers  and  sisters,  relatives  and  friends  in  confessing 
or  rejecting  Christ,  were  to  assert  a  greater  than  human 
love,  and  sacrifice  at  great  cost  purely  temporal  relation- 
ships. Simeon  did  not  mean  that  there  would  be  suc- 
cessive troughs  and  crests  on  the  great  sea  of  the  history 
of  Israel.  The  fallings  and  risings  are  not  the  falling 
and  rising  of  Israel,  but  the  falling  and  rising  of 
many  in  Israel.  These  words  of  Simeon  apply  to 
us.  The  coming  of  the  Christ  Child  has  already 
influenced  the  Hves  of  those  here  present.  The  impor- 
tance of  this  event  must  be  conveyed  to  you  in  such 
a  way  that  you,  with  Mary,  will  realize  the  impossibility 
of  the  establishment  of  perfect  peace  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  continuing  as  before.  Nothing  is  more  tragical 
in  all  this  world  than  the  offense  of  the  cross.  Nothing 
is  more  serious  to  the  earnest  Christian  pastor  than  the 
final  decision  of  individual  men  and  women  who  for  a 
season  have  attended  religious  instruction  that  they  can- 
not take  the  final  step  and  seal  their  desire  to  know  Jesus 
with  the  public  confession  of  Jesus.  Recently  a  pastor 
who  had  had  such  an  experience  spoke  about  it  to  a 
member  of  his  parish  who  is  engaged  in  active  business 
life.  This  man  said:  "Surely  you  cannot  expect  to  win 
every  person  you  come  into  contact  with.  In  business 
we  do  not  expect  to  win  out  every  time."  There  is  a 
great  difference,  however,  between  commercial  contracts 
and  human  souls.     The  commercial  contract  if  not  won 


SUNDAY  AFTER  CHRISTMiAS  6'3 

by  one  man  is  won  by  another.  The  commercial  contract 
is  of  temporal  value  at  best  to  the  man  who  ultimately 
wins  it,  but  the  soul  is  of  eternal  value,  and  if  not  won 
for  Christ,  must  be  the  property  of  Satan.  There  are 
no  half-way  measures.  There  is  no  justification  for  the 
display  of  a  lukewarm  tendency.  The  nativity  must  pro- 
duce one  of  two  effects  in  your  life,  either  your  fall  or 
your  rise.    Which  shall  it  be? 

Perhaps  your  indecision,  if  there  has  been  such,  has 
been  due  to  what  others  have  said  about  this  child.  We 
shall  touch,  in  a  subsequent  sermon,  upon  some  of  the 
enemies  of  Christ.  It  is  necessary  at  this  point  simply 
to  point  out  that  if  this  sign  has  been  spoken  against 
during  twenty  centuries,  history  has  but  fulfilled  the 
prophecy  of  Simeon  and  has  stressed  the  truth  and 
validity  of  his  message.  But  if  you  with  Mary  do  be- 
lieve in  this  child,  if  you  with  her  are  going  to  be  true 
to  the  child,  whatever  may  occur,  you  with  her  must 
be  reminded  that  your  life  as  a  Christian  will  not  assert 
itself  uninterruptedly  as  a  pleasant,  delightful,  sunny 
journey.  If  you  are  going  to  be  true  to  Christ  and  be- 
cause of  your  loyalty  to  Him  true  to  your  neighbors,  if 
there  is  to  be  in  your  hearts  a  consuming  passion  that  all 
persons  may  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  Christ, 
you  will  undoubtedly  feel  the  coldness  of  the  steel  pressed 
against  your  heart,  the  sharp  pain  as  the  blade  pierces  it, 
and  the  consequent  weakness  as  your  life-blood  is  ebbing 
in  the  service  of  the  Christ.  You  will  recognize  the 
injustice  meted  out  to  Jesus  and  you  will  suffer  with 
Him.  The  tears  of  the  peasants  who  witness  the 
Oberammergau  Passion  Play  are  not  to  be  looked  upon 
as  superstitious  trifles  as  they  are  by  some  American 
tourists,  but  as  the  expression  of  a  compassion  and  suf- 
fering much  more  vital  than  that  of  some  of  the  critics 
of  those  who  cannot  control  their  feelings  as  they  view 
a  regularly  recurrent  spectacle  of  the  agony  and  death  of 


64  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Jesus  for  the  sins  of  the  world.  Perhaps  this  emphasis 
upon  Simeon's  message  has  been  sufficient  to  point  out 
the  fallacy  of  any  conception  of  Christian  life  which 
ignores  the  thorns  and  thistles,  the  wounds  and  sores, 
the  sin  and  sorrow  in  our  environment.  The  life  of  the 
Christian  is  not  an  easy  thing. 

Simeon,  a  righteous  and  devout  man,  a  gentleman  of 
the  old  and  true  school,  has  been  commissioned  to  bring 
a  trying  message  to  Mary,  a  mother  ever  to  be  known 
as  the  mother  of  sorrows.  Anna,  a  prophetess  whose 
austerity  is  implied,  if  not  directly  expressed,  is  chosen 
on  the  other  hand,  to  bring  a  message  of  good  will  and 
cheer,  a  gospel,  to  all  them  that  were  looking  for  the 
redemption  of  Israel.  There  can  be  no  greater  contrast 
than  that  here  displayed.  Simeon  addressing  Mary  in 
terms  of  moderation  and  reserve  and  gentle  warning; 
Anna,  the  prophetess,  addressing  the  masses  in  unmis- 
takable terms  of  gratitude  for  the  salvation  that  has 
been  wrought,  a  sermon  growing  out  of  her  prayer  of 
thanksgiving.  Thus  is  illustrated  the  wonderful  adapt- 
ability of  our  Christian  life  to  the  circumstances  which 
environ  us.  We  are  to  be  all  things  to  all  men.  We 
can  rejoice  with  those  who  rejoice  and  we  naturally 
weep  with  those  who  weep.  Simeon  asserts  and  illu- 
strates the  attitude  to  be  assumed  in  dealing  with  our- 
selves in  the  spirit  of  self-examination.  We  are  not  to 
be  deluded  with  false  hopes,  false  dreams,  false  ambi- 
tions, false  desires.  This  very  process  of  self-examina- 
tion will  fit  us  to  look  out  upon  the  world  as  we  should 
and  as  Anna  has  taught  us,  with  deeply  grateful  hearts, 
ready  and  anxious  to  proclaim  to  others  the  unsearch- 
able riches  of  God  contained  in  unfathomable  and  inex- 
haustible mines  of  grace  and  truth. 

Place  Simeon  and  Anna  side  by  side.  Appropriate 
the  message  of  one  as  of  the  other  and  you  will  under- 
stand somewhat  of  the  meaning  of  the  well-developed, 


SUNDAY  AFTER  CHRISTMAS  6's 

fully-rounded  Christian  life,  a  life  that  is  happy  and 
serious  at  once,  a  life  that  knows  a  peace  and  joy  that 
pass  understanding,  a  life  which,  in  spending  itself  for 
others,  is  endeavoring  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Him 
Who  is  alike  the  Light  of  the  world  and  the  Lamb  of 
God. 


VIII. 

NEW  YEAR. 

Luke  2:  21. 

"And  when  eight  days  were  fulfilled  for  circumcizing  him,  his 
name  was  called  Jesusi,  which  was  so  called  by  the  angel  before 
he  was  conceived  in  the  womb." 

Ought  we  be  willing  to  pass  from  the  old  year  into  the 
new  without  a  bit  of  reflection  concerning  the  significance 
of  the  step  which  we  are  forced  to  take  whether  we 
like  it  or  not  ?    Perhaps  we  have  misused  our  opportuni- 
ties in  the  past,  perhaps  the  year  that  closed  last  night 
was  spent  in  dreaming,  in  useless  endeavor,  in  the  doing 
of  harmful  things,  in  the  thinking  of  harmful  thoughts, 
in  the  speaking  of  harmful  words.     We  are  to  think  of 
the  past  just  long  enough  to  acknowledge  our  folly,  just 
long  enough  to  think  of  and  thank  God  for  mercies  that 
have  been  new  with  every  recurring  day  and  having 
done  that  we  are  to  reflect  for  a  little  while  upon  the 
immediate  future.    We  are  to  know  that  each  new  year 
marks  a  crisis  in  our  lives,  a  threshold  we  are  to  cross, 
a  new  room  we  are  to  enter,  a  new  temple  to  be  occu- 
pied, a  new  life  to  be  lived.    Each  new  year  is  just  one 
additional  opportunity  God  affords  us  to  mend  our  ways 
and  come  to  true  repentance  ere  the  day  of  grace  be 
ended.    It  is  most  appropriate,  therefore,  that  we  should 
have  assembled  in  God's  house  this  morning  to  give  heed 
to  the  one  verse  that  constitutes  the  gospel  lesson  for 
this  day.    The  one  thing  this  verse  would  teach  us  above 
everything  else  concerns  the  normal  progression  of  re- 
ligion in  life.    We  are  to  weigh  our  lives  this  day  in  the 

66 


NEW  YEAR  67 

scales  of  religious  certitude,  of  religious  progress  or  of 
religious  retardation.  How  far  have  we  come  and  how 
far  shall  we  be  able  to  get  before  our  journey  is  ended? 
As  we  think  of  the  beginnings  of  religion  in  the  indi- 
vidual life  we  are  amazed  at  the  rapid  and  successive 
strides  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  The  days  of  the  new  year 
are  to  be  associated  with  days  of  babyhood  and  child- 
hood. The  new  year  is  to  present  to  us  new  opportuni- 
ties to  become  like  unto  one  of  these  little  children.  We 
are  permitted  to  go  one  step  further  and  say  the  new 
year  is  a  new  opportunity  to  follow  and  have  our  chil- 
dren follow  in  the  steps  of  the  Christ  Child.  As  we  study 
the  life  of  this  manger  babe  and  as  we  ask  ourselves 
again  when  ought  religion  begin  in  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual the  answer  is  clearly  indicated  in  this  day's  gospel 
lesson.  The  last  words  of  the  verse  must  not  be  passed 
over  in  silence.  They  must  not  be  slurred  over  be- 
cause of  mock  modesty.  They  are  too  important  to  be 
ignored.  The  name  of  Jesus  was  so  named  by  the  angel 
before  he  was  conceived  in  the  womb  of  Mary.  The  ref- 
erence in  this  second  chapter  of  Luke  is  to  the  explicit 
statement  found  in  the  first  chapter  in  which  we  are  told 
how  "the  angel  Gabriel  was  sent  from  God  unto  a  city 
of  Galilee,  named  Nazareth,  to  a  virgin  betrothed  to 
a  man  whose  name  was  Joseph,  of  the  house  of  David; 
and  the  virgin's  name  was  Mary.  And  he  came  in  unto 
her,  and  said,  Hail,  thou  that  art  highly  favored,  the 
Lord  is  with  thee.  But  she  was  greatly  troubled  at  the 
saying,  and  cast  in  her  mind  what  manner  of  salutation 
this  might  be.  And  the  angel  said  unto  her.  Fear  not, 
Mary:  for  thou  hast  found  favor  with  God.  And  be- 
hold, thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  bring  forth 
a  son,  and  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus."  We  are  amazed 
at  the  deliberateness  of  the  story,  the  natural  or  rather 
the  supernatural,  orderly  progression  of  events.  We 
learn  from  it  all  that  the  religious  life  of  Jesus  began 


6"8  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

before  His  conception  and  we  are  to  learn  as  well  that 
the  religious  Hfe  of  the  child  entrusted  to  us  by  a  loving 
Father  is  not  to  begin  at  some  time  or  other  after  birth, 
but  at  some  time  preceding  conception.  How  carefully 
we  prepare  for  every  phase  of  life  except  the  religious. 
How  tenderly  we  think  of  the  advent  of  the  little  one 
and  how  busy  we  are  to  see  that  nothing  has  been  for- 
gotten, nothing  neglected  that  will  lend  to  his  comfort 
and  happiness.  There  is  something  which  many  of  us 
forget,  but  which  a  true  Christian  mother  cannot  and 
does  not  forget:  she  needs  God's  help  both  for  herself 
and  her  little  one,  and  she  is  not  ashamed  to  ask  it. 
When  we  are  told  over  and  over  again  that  a  great  man 
is  the  son  of  a  great  mother  we  are  told  a  truth  which 
needs  to  be  restated  constantly.  Augustine's  mother  and 
her  prayers,  you  have  them  over  and  over  again  in  life. 
You  are  the  sponsor  of  the  new  life  that  begins  this 
day  and  will  continue  during  the  year  provided  you  live 
that  long.  You  ought  to  have  weighed  it  all  before  to- 
day. Are  you  going  to  treat  this  new  life  as  a  sacred 
trust,  as  a  mother  would  treat  it,  or  are  you  going  to 
heap  upon  it  all  the  ridicule  you  can  muster?  Are  you 
going  to  environ  the  year  with  religious  thoughts  and 
lofty  aspirations,  or  is  it  to  be  simply  one  of  a  number 
of  similarly  constituted,  live  and  let  live  chapters  of  a 
trashy  novel? 

The  first  thought  of  and  for  the  babe  is  that  of  the 
mother.  The  second  thought  is  that  of  the  parents  act- 
ing in  conjunction.  We  are  allowed  to  feel  that  Joseph 
was  interested  in  this  child,  but  the  interest  of  Joseph 
is  not  a  separate  interest.  From  the  manger  scene  to 
the  temple  scene  Joseph  is  always  by  the  side  of  Mary, 
counseling,  protecting,  serving.  "And  when  eight  days 
were  fulfilled  for  circumcizing  him"  Joseph  and  Mary 
are  to  be  thought  of  as  conjointly  planning  to  carry  out 
the  provision  of  the  law  of  Israel.    A  Christian  mother 


NEW  YEAR  69 

needs  to  be  reinforced  and  helped  in  her  desire  for  her 
child.  The  plans  of  many  a  consecrated  mother  are 
thwarted  and  brought  to  nought  by  the  lack  of  sympathy 
and  the  lack  of  co-operation  on  the  part  of  a  careless, 
lax,  indifferent  or  unbelieving  father.  When  the  child 
has  begun  its  career  it  needs  all  the  protection,  all  the 
helpfulness,  all  the  strength  of  the  father  to  supplement 
the  love  of  the  mother.  The  new  year  is  a  new  child 
in  your  home.  It  needs  to  be  treated  as  such.  It  must 
be  environed  with  all  the  positive  forces  which  can  be 
mustered.  The  first  and  strongest  tie  to  be  established 
is  that  of  dependence  upon  a  good  and  gracious  Father 
Who  is  abundantly  able  to  help  you  care  for  this  trust, 
to  convert  its  difficult  problems  into  helpful  solutions,  its 
sorrows  into  blessed  joys,  its  everyday  routine  into  sen- 
tinels of  eternity. 

In  our  consideration  of  the  normal  progression  of 
religion  in  life  we  have  thought  of  the  beginning  of  re- 
ligion in  individual  life.  We  have  traced  that  beginning 
to  the  grace  of  God  Who  sends  His  holy  angels  as  guar- 
dians of  the  new  life  and  we  have  seen  how  important  is 
the  environing  love  and  devotion  and  faith  of  the  mother, 
the  supporting  strength  of  the  father.  We  are  to  think 
for  a  moment  of  the  progressive  assertion  of  religion  in 
life.  As  we  ponder  upon  this  gospel  for  new  year's  day 
we  are  of  course  reminded  of  the  outward  conformity 
which  it  prescribes  and  records.  There  is  no  exception 
presented  in  the  story  of  the  babe  of  Bethlehem.  Jesus 
is  not  exempt  because  He  is  Jesus,  from  the  various 
ceremonies  prescribed  for  Jewish  children.  Milton  puts 
it  thus: 

Ye  flaming  powers,  and  wingea  warriors  bright, 
That  erst  with  music  and  triumphant  song, 
First  heard  by  happy  watchful  shepherds  ear, 
So  sweetly  sung  your  joy  the  clouds  along 
Through  the  soft  silence  of  the  listening  night; 


70  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Now  mourn,  and  if  sad  share  with  us  to  bear 
Your  fiery  essence  can  distil  no  tear, 
Burn  in  your  sighs,  and  borrow 
Seas  wept  from  our  deep  sorrow: 
He  who  with  all  heav'n's  heraldry  whilere 
Entered  the  world,  now  bleeds  to  give  us  ease; 
Alas,  how  soon  our  sin 
Sore  doth  begin 

His  infancy  to  seize! 
O  more  exceeding  love,  or  law  more  just! 
Just  law  indeed,  but  more  exceeding  love ! 
For  we  by  rightful  doom  remediless 
Were  lost  in  death,  till  he  that  dwelt  above 
High  throned  in  secret  bliss,  for  us  frail  dust 
Emptied  his  glory,  ev'n  to  nakedness; 
And  that  great  covenant  which  we  still  transgress 
Entirely  satisfied. 
And  the  full  wrath  beside 
Of  vengeful  justice  bore  for  our  excess, 
And  seals  obedience  first,  with  wounding  smart, 
This  day,  but  O  ere  long. 
Huge  pangs  and  strong 
Will  pierce  more  near  his  heart. 

The  circumcision  which  this  day  commemorates  marks 
the  blood  covenant  admission  of  Jesus  into  the  privilege 
of  fellowship  with  the  God  of  Israel  as  a  son  of  Israel. 
The  shedding  of  His  blood  thus  early  in  life  is  but  the 
beginning  of  the  way  of  the  cross.  In  how  far  shall 
there  be  outward  conformity  in  our  religious  life  during 
the  course  of  the  year  that  is  beginning?  In  just  as 
far  as  the  Christian  church  is  the  body  of  Christ.  Israel 
was  the  chosen  son  of  God  in  the  days  of  Jesus.  There 
was  no  alternative  for  Jesus.  The  Jesus  Who  was  to  die 
for  the  whole  world  was  to  associate  Himself  with  that 
part  of  the  world  which  confessed  its  faith  in  the  true, 
living  God.  There  is  no  alternative  for  you.  Outward  con- 
formity on  the  part  of  Jesus  did  not  imply  His  sanction 
upon  all  for  which  Israel  stood  in  His  days.  Your 
allegiance  to  the  Christian  church,  your  outward  con- 


NEW  YEAR  71 

formity  does  not  commit  you  to  its  abuses  and  its  short- 
comings, but  your  lack  of  conformity,  your  unwilling- 
ness to  confess  your  Lord  publicly,  your  unwillingness 
to  be  associated  with  brethren  of  whom  you  are  ashamed, 
these  things  will  assuredly  subject  you  to  the  judgment, 
the  stern  judgment  of  Christ,  "whosoever  shall  deny 
me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  my  Father 
who  is  in  heaven."  Outward  conformity  brings  with  it 
personal  sacrifice  and  suffering.  It  is  so  much  easier  to 
go  one's  own  way,  to  subject  oneself  to  no  restrictions, 
to  vow  obedience  to  no  one,  to  put  one's  faith  in  no  one 
other  than  self,  than  to  march  in  step,  to  lose  one's  iden- 
tity, to  obey  orders  even  unto  death.  It  is  much  harder 
to  conquer  self  and  efface  self  for  the  purpose  of  doing 
the  Father's  will.  It  is  not  easy  for  our  sons  to  march 
deliberately  into  the  jaws  of  death  and  yet  if  they  are 
doing  that  not  because  they  have  been  drafted,  but  be- 
cause they  believe  that  thereby  they  are  helping  the 
world  onward  and  upward  in  its  march  from  tyranny 
and  oppression  to  international  brotherhood  and  Chris- 
tian fellowship,  are  they  not,  in  accepting  the  challenge, 
proving  themselves  to  be  loyal  followers  of  Jesus  Christ? 
It  is  this  thought  and  this  thought  only  that  supports 
and  can  support  parents  in  times  like  those  upon  which 
we  have  come.  Suppose  your  profession  of  Christianity 
during  the  new  year  is  going  to  make  you  the  laughing 
stock  of  some,  the  object  of  pity  of  others,  of  contempt 
of  still  others,  is  that  going  to  influence  your  conduct? 
In  how  far  is  the  lack  of  conformity  of  the  average  man 
to  confess  Jesus  Christ  before  men  due  to  an  unwilling- 
ness, a  lack  of  readiness  to  suffer  a  bit  with  and  for 
Christ?  There  must  be  a  progressive  assertion  of  re- 
ligion in  adult  life.  Your  confirmation  is  but  a  step  to 
the  Lord's  Table.  Your  wedding  must  be  more  than  a 
mere  civil  rite.  It  must  be  the  assumption  of  a  vow  to 
establish  a  Christian  home.     Every  subsequent  step  in 


72  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

your  life  must  be  more  mature,  more  deliberate,  more 
consecrated  than  the  steps  which  have  gone  before.  You 
must  be  ready  for  the  prayer  which  will  be  offered  at 
your  deathbed.    That  must  be  a  real  Nunc  Dimittis. 

As  we  think  on  this  day  of  the  normal  progression  of 
religion  in  the  life  of  the  individual  in  the  year  that 
has  begun  we  are  reminded  of  the  importance  of  begin- 
ning the  year  in  Jesus'  name  and  with  Jesus'  aim  in 
mind.  The  angel  of  the  Lord  who  appeared  to  Joseph 
in  a  dream  said  to  him:  "Thou  shalt  call  his  name 
Jesus;  for  it  is  he  that  shall  save  his  people  from  their 
sins."  It  is  this  announcement  of  the  angel  upon  which 
Christians  rely  for  their  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of 
the  name  Jesus,  the  Savior,  upon  which  the  early  Chris- 
tians based  their  fond  assertions  concerning  "Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  the  Savior  of  the  world."  What 
name  will  you  give  to  this  new  year?  That,  of  course, 
will  depend  upon  your  aim  in  the  new  year.  What  motto 
will  you  choose  that  is  to  be  written  large  upon  the  walls 
of  your  home?  What  battle-cry  will  you  adopt?  What 
slogan  will  energize  and  stimulate  you  to  greater  devo- 
tion?   Shall  it  not  be  "In  His  Name?" 

"  'Tis  the  Name  for  adoration ; 
'Tis  the  Name  of  victory; 
'Tis  the  Name  for  meditation 
In  this  vale  of  misery; 
'Tis  the  Name  for  veneration 
By  the  citizens  on  high. 

"'Tis  the  Name  by  right  exalted 

Over  every  other  name ; 

That,  when  we  are  sore  assaulted, 

Puts  our  enemies  to  shame; 

Strength  to  them  who  else  had  halted, 

Eyes  to  blind  and  feet  to  lame." 


NEW  YEAR  73 

If  only  we  would  determine  during  this  year  to  apply 
Disraeli's  statement,  a  statement  that  is  not  orginal  with 
him  except  for  its  phraseology,  to  our  religious  life.  He 
has  said:  "The  secret  of  success  is  constancy  of  pur- 
pose." We  can  be  successful  as  Christians  only  during 
this  year  as  we  resolve  that  the  purpose  which  we  have  de- 
fined this  morning  is  a  sufficiently  worth-while  purpose 
to  call  for  constancy  throughout  the  year.  Obedience, 
outward  conformity,  sacrifice  and  suffering  if  need  be 
because  of  the  name  we  bear,  these  are  the  marks  of 
the  Christian  today  as  they  were  the  marks  of  the  true 
child  of  God  in  Jesus'  day. 


IX. 

SUNDAY  AFTER  NEW  YEAR. 

I 

Matthew  2:13. 

"Arise  and  take  the  young  child  and  his  mother  and  flee  into 
Egypt  and  be  thou  there  until  I  tell  thee  for  Herod  will  seek  the 
young  child  to  destroy  him." 

The  Magi  have  departed  from  the  court  of  Herod,  to 
which  they  had  gone  for  information,  and  have  pursued 
their  journey  to  Bethlehem  guided  by  the  star.  They 
have  come  into  the  house  where  Mary  and  the  young 
child  were  and  have  seen  both  mother  and  child.  They 
have  fallen  down  and  have  worshipped  the  newborn  king 
of  the  Jews.  They  have  opened  their  treasures  and 
offered  Him  gifts,  gold  and  frankincense  and  myrrh. 
They  have  fulfilled  their  mission.  They  have  been 
warned  of  God  in  a  dream  not  to  return  to  Herod.  They 
have  heeded  the  warning  and  have  gone  home  by  another 
way. 

Mary  and  Joseph  are  still  living  in  somewhat  of  a 
stupor.  So  much  has  been  said  about  their  child,  so  many 
attentions  have  been  shown  this  child,  so  many  visitors 
have  come,  some  to  see,  others  to  see  and  to  worship, 
they  are  in  this  trance,  when  suddenly,  after  the  depar- 
ture of  the  Magi,  "an  angel  of  the  Lord  appeareth  to 
Joseph  in  a  dream,  saying,  Arise  and  take  the  young  child 
and  his  mother,  and  flee  into  Egypt,  and  be  thou  there 
until  I  tell  thee;  for  Herod  will  seek  the  young  child  to 
destroy  him".  The  story  of  the  flight  of  Mary  and 
Joseph  and  the  child  is  the  story  of  a  ready  obedience. 
The  story  of  the  continuance  of  the  family  in  Egypt  until 
the  death  of  Herod  is  the  story  of  a  sustained  obedience 

74 


SUNDAY  AFTER  NEW'  YEAR  75 

the  resultant  of  faith  and  experience,  the  story  of  the 
return  is  the  story  of  the  eventual  victory  of  right  over 
mere  might  and  cruel  despotism,  the  story  of  the  return 
to  Nazareth  is  the  story  of  the  fulfilment  of  God's  Word 
and  holy  purposes.  The  interlude,  which  paints  the  dis- 
appointed and  raging  king,  and  portrays  the  untold  agony 
of  the  mothers  of  Bethlehem,  indicates  an  attitude  toward 
the  Christ  Child  which  cannot  even  today  be  viewed 
calmly,  simply  because  the  lesson  has  not  as  yet  been 
mastered. 

May  it  not  be  well  for  us  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
year  to  pause  a  bit  while  we  discuss  and  reflect  upon  some 
of  the  many  influences  which  are  employed  to  destroy 
the  very  existence  of  the  Christ  Child?  Of  course,  we 
are  not  to  think  so  much  of  the  attempt  to  destroy  the 
Child  twenty  centuries  ago  by  Herod;  we  are  to  think 
rather  of  the  influences  in  our  midst  which,  if  allowed  to 
go  on  unchecked,  will  undoubtedly  destroy  the  power  the 
Christ  Child  ought  even  now  be  exerting  upon  our  chil- 
dren. To  fight  disease  we  must  know  the  disease  we 
are  fighting.  To  fight  an  enemy  we  must  know  some- 
thing about  him.  We  must  be  able  to  recognize  him 
when  we  see  him.  We  must  know  something  of  his 
methods  in  warfare  and  his  conduct  in  public  and  in 
secret.  Our  task  today  is  that  of  endeavoring  properly 
to  diagnose  conditions,  to  force  the  enemy  into  the  open, 
and  brand  him  so  that  we  may  not  be  deceived,  but  that 
we  may  battle  with  him  intelligently.  Who  are  some  of 
these  enemies  of  the  child  Jesus?  Would  you  not  be  sur- 
prised to  have  me  tell  you  that  just  as  the  greatest  enemy 
of  the  individual  is  self,  the  greatest  enemy  of  the  child 
is  very  frequently  the  parent?  Of  course,  there  is  no 
conscious,  deliberate  enmity,  but  just  because  this  is  so, 
this  enmity  is  all  the  more  deadly  and  destructive.  Had 
Joseph  and  Mary  been  left  to  themselves  during  the  days 


76  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

of  the  infancy  of  the  Child  Jesus,  if  there  had  been  no 
angelic  inten^ention,  if  God  had  not  taken  part,  and  a 
very  pronounced  part,  in  caring  for  the  child,  there 
is  no  doubt  about  it  that  they  would  have  continued' 
indefinitely  basking  in  the  reflected  light  of  the  homage 
and  worship  accorded  their  child  until  the  soldiers  of 
Herod  would  have  found  their  way  to  the  house  from 
which  the  Magi  had  just  departed,  and,  under  the  pre- 
tence of  worship,  they  would  have  wreaked  their  wrath, 
or  rather  the  wrath  of  Herod,  upon  the  babe  which  was 
the  cause  of  his  stern  decree.  Suppose  the  angel  had 
not  intercepted  the  course  of  Mary  and  Joseph,  sup- 
pose he  had  not  sent  true  dreams  to  take  the  place  of 
idle  dreams,  suppose  having  indicated  the  thing  to  be 
done  he  had  not  accompanied  the  holy  family  into  Egypt, 
suppose  having  accompanied  the  holy  family  into  Egypt 
he  had  left  them  there  unprotected,  suppose  he  had  not 
reappeared  in  a  dream  bidding  them  return  after  the 
death  of  Herod,  suppose  that  he  had  not  accompanied 
them  from  Egypt  to  their  home  land,  suppose  he  had 
not  warned  them  not  to  return  to  Judaea  but  had  per- 
mitted them  to  wend  their  way  to  the  domain  of  Arche- 
laus,  suppose  he  had  not  accompanied  them  to  Nazareth, 
suppose  he  had  permitted  Mary  and  Joseph  to  have  their 
own  way  in  the  training  of  the  boy,  suppose  these  things 
and  at  every  turn  you  would  be  confronted  by  a  danger 
signal  of  the  first  magnitude,  in  every  new  line  of 
trenches  you  would  encounter  the  enemy  lying  in  wait 
for  the  unprotected  child.  If  this  be  true  of  the  Child 
Jesus,  how  much  truer  is  it  of  your  own  child?  If  it 
was  necessary  for  the  angel  of  the  Lord  or  the  Lord  Him- 
self to  be  constantly  by  the  side  of  Mary  and  Joseph, 
how  much  truer  is  it  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  must 
constantly  be  by  your  side  if  you  are  to  protect  your 
child  from  the  enemies  of  the  Child  Jesus,  if,  in  other 


SUNDAY  AFTER  NEW  YEAR  yy 

words,  you  yourself  are  not  to  be  an  enemy  of  the  Child 
Jesus. 

Undoubtedly  Mary  and  Joseph  having  wended  their 
way  from  Nazareth  to  Bethlehem  amid  great  trials,  hav- 
ing experienced  the  hardship  of  traveling  as  exiles  over 
stony  and  desert  paths,  were  anxious  for  one  of  two 
things,  either  to  remain  for  the  present,  at  least,  in  Beth- 
lehem or  somewhere  nearby  in  Judaea,   or  to   return 
gladly  and  with  reasonable  pride  to  their  own  city  of 
Nazareth.     Surely  if  left  to  themselves  they  would  not 
have  chosen  to  continue  their  exile  march  to  the  south,  to 
a  land  where  their  child  would  receive  no  homage,  where 
they  and  their  child  would  be  altogether  unknov^n  and 
where  their  sustenance  from  the  purely  human  standpoint 
was  not  assured.    The  dream  ordering  them  to  go  down 
into  Egypt  must  have  come  as  a  distinct  shock  to  both 
Mary  and  Joseph.    Their  heroism  in  obeying  the  decree 
can  only  be  understood  as  we  realize  that  they  have  been 
prepared   to  commit   themselves  unreservedly   into   the 
keeping  of  God.     Perhaps  I  am  addressing  the  parents 
of  children  who  are  today  subjecting  their  children  to 
the  same  sort  of  dangers  to  which  Mary  and  Joseph  sub- 
jected Jesus  in  remaining  at  Bethlehem.     Perhaps  your 
interest  in  your  child  is  purely  temporal.    There  is  noth- 
ing you  would  not  do  for  your  child— except  one  thing. 
You  would  gladly  sacrifice  life  that  your  child  may  live, 
but  you  have  been  blinded  and  deceived  by  the  adoration 
and  the  praises  of  your  neighbors.     They  have  brought 
gifts,  to  be  added  to  your  own,  they  have  lauded  what 
they  have  heralded  as  signs  of  future  greatness,  they 
have  obscured,  completely  obscured,  the  figure  of  Herod 
standing  in  the  doorway  ready  to  pounce  upon  your 
child.    More  than  that,  they  have  crowded  out  the  Christ 
Who  has  sought  admission  to  your  home  that  He  might 
place  His  hands  upon  the  heads  of  your  little  children 
and  say  to  you:     "Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto 


78  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Me  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of 
God."  Dear  parent,  do  not  shrink  from  the  figure.  Are 
you  with  Mary  and  Joseph  an  enemy  of  the  best  interests 
of  your  child  if  left  to  your  own  whims  and  fancies? 
What  are  you  doing  to  permit  the  Christ  Child  to  enter 
the  life  of  your  child?  Our  figure  is  not  to  be  confined 
to  parents.  There  are  other  persons  and  other  influences 
which  effectively  keep  the  Christ  out  of  our  lives. 

Just  as  we  were  compelled  to  admit  of  Caesar  Augustus 
that  he  stands  forth  not  as  a  monster,  unique  in  the 
annals  of  the  world,  so  we  must  confess  that  Herod  is 
by  no  means  alone  as  an  enemy  of  the  child.  This  day's 
lesson  has  its  deep  moral  for  us  in  the  fact  that  Herod  is 
the  representative  of  many  interests  in  conflict,  in  open 
conflict,  with  the  Christ  Child.  Edersheim,  who,  as  is  well 
known,  has  written  a  most  scholarly  life  of  Jesus  and 
His  times,  pictures  very  realistically  the  luxurious,  friv- 
olous, sinful  life  of  Jerusalem  in  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era  and  especially  in  the  days  immediately 
preceding  the  coming  of  the  Christ.  The  Jerusalem  he^ 
pictures  is  a  modern  city,  a  very  modern  city.  The  life 
he  portrays  is  distinctly  modern,  and  the  leader  in  this 
luxurious  and  profligate  life  is  none  other  than  Herod 
the  Great,  the  man  who,  because  he  could  not  brook  the 
existence  of  genealogical  records  which  were  not  com- 
plimentary, flouted  the  children  of  Israel  by  ordering  all 
such  records  to  be  destroyed,  the  man  who,  to  curry  the 
favor  of  his  subjects,  built  a  temple  of  surpassing  mag- 
nificence while  spitting  in  the  face  of  God,  the  man  who 
murdered  whenever  and  whomsoever  he  saw  fit  if  thereby 
he  thought  it  possible  to  cut  some  gordian  knot  which 
he  could  not  otherwise  untangle.  Suppose,  since  we  seem 
today  to  be  in  a  mood  that  engenders  suppositions,  sup- 
pose it  would  have  been  possible  for  some  one  to  impress 
upon  the  mind  of  this  low  man  that  Jesus,  the  Messiah, 
was  not  to  be  a  temporal  king,  suppose  it  had  been  pos- 


SUNDAY  AFTER  NEW)  YEAR  79 

sible  to  make  it  perfectly  clear  to  him  that  Jesus  did  not 
want  his  earthly  kingdom,  would  he,  do  you  suppose,  have 
been  satisfied  with  such  a  pledge?  Do  you  not  see  that 
Herod  was  shrewd  enough  to  realize  that  the  Herodian 
principle  and  the  Christian  principle  could  not  fail  to 
come  into  deadly  conflict?  He  knew  well  enough  that 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah,  even  though  that  Messiah 
would  not  wrest  his  land  from  him,  was  an  intolerable 
thought.  His  whole  life  would  necessarily  have  to  be 
either  ruined  or  amended.  He  was  neither  ready  to 
amend  it  nor  to  acknowledge  himself  a  servant  of  sin. 
This  utter  abandon  of  those  who  have  sold  themselves 
to  Satan,  this  recognition  on  their  part  of  the  inability 
of  the  two  kingdoms  to  stand  side  by  side  is  because  of 
an  unwillingness  to  go  one  step  further  and  acknowledge 
the  legitimacy  of  the  reign  of  Christ,  the  deepest  tragedy 
in  human  life.  Herod  and  the  Christ  Child  cannot  con- 
tinue together.  Herod  is  an  enemy  of  the  child  Jesus. 
So  are  you,  dear  friends,  as  long  as  you  continue  to 
swear  allegiance  to  self.  So  are  you,  as  long  as,  with 
Herod,  you  hold  on  to  the  sins  that  are  damning  you  and 
your  children  and  driving  you  ever  further  into  outer 
darkness. 

And  you,  dear  friend,  who  are  ready  and  willing  to 
do  the  bidding  of  the  angel,  may  I  urge  you  to  save  the 
child  ?  Let  no  effort  be  too  great,  no  pilgrimage  too  in- 
volved, no  words  too  precious  to  save  the  child,  the  Christ 
Child  if  need  be,  or  your  child  from  Herod. 


X. 

EPIPHANY. 

Matthew  2 : 2. 
"We  have  seen  His  star." 

The  testimonies  concerning  the  Incarnation  of  Jesus 
Christ  are  cumulative.  We  shall  not  here  refer  to  the 
Advent  messages  of  the  angel,  of  Zacharias,  Elizabeth, 
or  even  of  John  the  Baptist,  or  the  testimony  of  the 
angelic  host  on  Bethlehem's  field. 

The  first  human  testimony,  following  the  event,  is  that 
of  the  shepherds.  As  the  disciples  were  chosen  from 
among  the  industrial  classes,  or  the  masses,  in  order 
that  the  cosmopolitan  character  of  Christianity  might 
be  vindicated,  and  that  it  might  be  differentiated  from 
a  cult,  the  shepherds  were  to  establish  the  claims  of  their 
pastoral  ancestors,  Abraham,  Moses  and  David,  and  were 
to  be  the  first  to  place  a  new  interpretation  upon  the 
shepherd  Psalm.  As  the  disciples  were  called  from  their 
nets  to  be  fishers  of  men,  the  shepherds  were  called  from 
their  flocks  to  be  shepherds  of  men,  leaders  of  men  to 
the  manger.  This  did  not  mean  a  renunciation  of  their 
occupation,  as  the  disciples  did  not,  even  after  the  Resur- 
rection, completely  divorce  themselves  from  their  earthly 
pursuits,  but  it  meant  a  return  to  life  with  a  new  inter- 
pretation of  its  meaning. 

The  second  testimony  was  that  of  Simeon  and  Anna. 
In  the  first  instance  active  men  were  called  from- their 
posts  of  duty  to  testify  to  the  Incarnation.  They  were 
to  be  the  representatives  of  the  large  class  of  men  and 
women  of  serious  purpose,  with  life  before  them,  not 

80 


EPIPHANY  81 

apt  to  dream  dreams  and  see  visions  save  as  touched 
by  the  grace  of  God,  and  yet  ever  on  the  alert  for  the 
appearance  of  a  star,  ever  ready  for  the  message  of  good 
will.  In  this  instance  we  have  before  us  representatives 
of  a  life  that  has  been  lived,  a  purpose  that  has  been 
formulated,  a  destiny  that  has  been  chosen,  a  goal  in 
sight — representatives  of  a  meditative  class  which  has 
had  opportunity  to  think  hard  and  long  about  life's  conun- 
drums and  their  solution,  and  which  has  found  the  only 
logical  and  adequate  solution  in  the  acceptance  of  the 
Christ  Child  and  the  Christ.  The  homeward  journey 
of  Simeon  and  Anna,  following  their  testimony,  is  the 
triumphant  entry  of  the  children  of  God  into  their 
Father's  mansion  because  of  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise 
of  God,  expressed  in  the  Incarnation. 

Following  upon  these  testimonies  of  simple,  honest 
folk,  representing  life  that  is  and  has  been  and  is  to  be, 
it  is  simply  another  evidence  of  the  anticipation  of 
humanity's  doubt  and  scepticism  on  the  part  of  a  loving 
Father,  that  we  should  be  permitted,  ere  we  turn  from 
these  testimonies  concerning  the  Incarnation,  to  heed 
the  meaning  of  the  message  of  the  Magi:  "we  have  seen 
His  star  in  its  rising,  and  have  come  to  worship  Him". 
It  does  not  matter  much  from  what  country  the  Magi 
set  out.  Persia,  Arabia,  Babylonia — each  of  these  lands 
has  been  mentioned  in  turn  as  their  probable  home.  In 
each  of  them  there  were  astrologers  about  this  time,  and 
from  any  one  of  them  they  might  have  come.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  Magi  is  the  testimony  of  the  learned  men 
of  their  day;  the  testimony  of  heathen  lands,  a  testimony 
that  Christ  had  come  to  "lighten  the  Gentiles". 

The  final  testimony  in  each  case  follows  a  preliminary 
testimony  which  demands  a  trial  of  their  faith.  In  the 
case  of  the  shepherds  the  message  "unto  you  is  born  this 
day  in  the  city  of  David  a  Savior"  calls  forth  faith  as 
the  shepherds  say,  one  to  another,  "let  us  now  go  even 


82  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

) 
unto  Bethlehem,  and  see  this  thing  which  is  come  to  pass, 
which  the  Lord  made  known  unto  us".  In  the  case  of 
Simeon  and  Anna,  life  has  been  a  long-continued  asser- 
tion of  faith.  Their  constant  attendance  upon  temple 
services  and  ministrations  was  the  resultant  of  their  faith, 
a  faith  that  was  to  find  its  full  fruition  in  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah.  Was  the  faith  of  the  Magi  a  lesser  thing 
as  it  impelled  them  to  seek  the  fruition  of  their  hopes  in 
subjecting  themselves  to  a  long  and  tedious  caravan  jour- 
ney ?  The  New  Testament  is  thus  born  in  an  atmosphere 
of  faith.  As  Abraham's  faith  was  tested  many  centuries 
before  when  he  was  told  to  count  the  stars  and  thus 
count  his  seed,  the  New  Testament  points  to  but  one 
star,  it  may  be,  but  lends  to  it  a  significance  which  is 
supreme.  It  will  be  well  for  us  to  consider  His  star  and 
its  Significance. 

Astronomy  is  the  science  of  the  heavens.  It  speaks 
to  us  of  the  majesty,  the  omnipotence  and  the  glory  of 
God.  Astronomy  has  ascertained  the  regular  recurrence 
of  a  conjunction  of  Saturn  and  Jupiter,  joined  a  bit  later 
by  Mars,  at  an  interval  of  eight  hundred  years,  and  it  has 
traced  these  periods  forward  and  backward  to  the  time 
of  the  Nativity.  Thus  the  carefully  kept  records  of 
the  Babylonians,  supplemented  by  those  of  the  Chinese, 
lead  us  to  marvel  at  this  telling  forth  by  the  heavens  of 
the  glory  of  God.  Surely  there  is  an  importance  to  be 
attached  to  the  conscientious  study  of  the  heavens,  but 
His  star  does  not  primarily  concern  us  as  astronomers. 
It  concerns  us  as  a  sign  of  His  presence.  Perhaps  we 
can  best  explain  just  what  we  mean  by  distinguishing 
between  the  significance  of  His  star  for  the  Magi,  Herod, 
the  Innocents  and  ourselves. 

What  was  the  significance  of  this  star  for  the  Magi? 
Why  did  they  leave  their  home?  Their  endeavor  was 
an  honest  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  of  life.  They 
were  not  interested  in  their  science  as  you  are  perhaps 


EPIPHANY  83 

interested  in  music.  You  have  very  likely  never  sought 
to  interpret  life  through  the  channels  of  music.  You 
have  been  interested  in  it  solely  for  the  pleasure,  the 
restfulness,  the  satisfaction  it  affords.  Music  to  the 
true  musician  means  more  than  that.  It  assures  him  of 
a  spiritual  life  in  which  he  moves.  It  speaks  to  him  of 
the  love  of  God.  It  is  an  interpretation  of  life.  It  forces 
him  to  interpret  life  in  one  of  two  ways,  either  as  a 
wierdly  diabolical  thing,  or  as  a  sweet,  heavenly  thing. 
To  the  Magi  the  study  of  the  heavenly  bodies  was  part 
of  their  program  of  life.  It  was  their  program  of  life. 
They  sought  thus  to  interpret  life.  Fortunately  they 
did  not  spend  all  their  time  in  star  gazing.  They  endeav- 
ored to  apply  the  lessons  which  star  gazing  taught  them. 
Why  did  they  leave  home?  Was  it  to  obtain  a  better 
vantage  point  from  which  to  observe  the  peculiar  con- 
stellation which  had  swung  into  their  ken?  Was  it  to 
consult  with  others  eminent  as  star  gazers?  You  know 
very  well  from  the  statement  with  which  they  greeted 
Herod  what  their  purpose  was  in  setting  forth  upon 
their  journey.  "Where  is  He  that  is  born  King  of  the 
Jews?  For  we  have  seen  His  star  in  its  rising,  and  are 
come  to  worship  Him."  The  star  had  not  appeared 
to  them  the  day  before.  They  had  had  abundant  opportu- 
nity to  be  cured  of  any  superstitious  emotions,  moods  of 
frenzy  or  fanatical  zeal  on  their  journey,  and  perhaps 
for  some  time  before  they  started,  for  when  Herod  later 
carried  his  terrible  decree  concerning  the  Innocents  into 
execution,  he  ordered  that  all  children  two  years  of  age 
and  under  must  be  put  to  death  "according  to  the  time 
which  he  had  diligently  inquired  of  the  wise  men".  The 
remarkable  thing  about  this  story  is  its  very  deliberate- 
ness.  Not  that  they  might  advance  their  studies,  but  that 
they  might  worship  the  King  of  the  Jews  did  the  Magi 
set  forth  upon  their  pilgrimage.  The  constellation  was 
not  the  goal  of  their  journey.     They  lost  sight  of  that, 


84  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

and  they  expressed  manifest  surprise  when  it  reappeared 
as  they  were  leaving  Jerusalem.  Nor  did  they  look  upon 
an  interview  with  Herod  as  their  goal.  They  followed 
their  star  from  the  holy  city  to  the  little  town  of  Bethle- 
hem and  there  lost  sight  of  it,  not  necessarily  because  the 
constellation  was  no  longer  visible,  for  we  are  clearly  told 
that  it  stood  over  the  house  where  the  young  child  was, 
but  because  they  needed  no  planetary  constellation  after 
having  approached  the  Light  of  the  World.  Perhaps  the 
court  of  Herod,  with  its  recognition  of  scriptural  truth 
and  its  lack  of  scriptural  practice  impressed  them  as  did 
the  sight  of  another  so-called  Holy  City  a  subsequent 
seeker  after  truth.  At  any  rate,  the  Magi  returned  an- 
other way,  having  found  the  object  of  their  journey,  a 
solution  for  the  problem  of  life. 

What  was  the  meaning  of  this  star  as  Herod  in- 
terpreted it?  His  life  was  by  no  means  ideal.  He  was 
a  king,  it  is  true,  a  king  by  the  grace  of  Rome,  and  yet 
at  heart  hostile  to  Rome ;  king  of  the  Jews,  yet  despising 
the  people  who  time  and  again  cried  out:  "We  have  no 
king  but  Caesar."  He  was  a  king  whose  own  household 
was  at  variance  with  him,  a  king  who  could  claim  neither 
the  respect  nor  the  support  of  his  people.  Scripture  tells 
us  very  briefly  that  when  he  heard  of  the  appearance 
of  the  star,  he  was  frightened.  Would  that  the  source 
of  his  fright  had  been  deeper  seated.  The  appearance 
of  the  star  indicated  the  coming  of  the  King  to  the  Magi. 
It  indicated  the  ultimate  and  perhaps  speedy  overthrow 
of  a  kingdom  to  Herod.  It  was  the  Mene,  Mene,  Tekel, 
Upharsin,  spoken  to  him.  His  one  ambition  in  life  was 
to  rule.  He  could  think  of  no  economy,  of  no  realm 
in  which  he  would  be  counted  a  mere  subject.  Poor 
Herod,  why  did  he  not  stop  his  notorious  activity?  Why 
did  he  not  desist  from  a  life  of  gaiety  and  dissipation 
sufficiently  long  to  discern  the  direction  in  which  he  was 
drifting?     There  were  scribes  in  his  court.     They  knew 


EPIPHANY  85 

Scripture.  They  could  have  interpreted  it  for  him. 
Shall  we  shift  the  responsibility  and  say  they  alone  were 
to  blame?  The  stars  which  drift  into  our  ken  need  not 
be  interpreted  as  omens  of  evil.  They  may  be  omens  of 
God's  good  will,  even  though  at  times  they  are  too  in- 
finitely above  us  to  merit  our  assent.  Herod's  thoughts 
centered  solely  in  the  preservation  of  his  throne.  He 
ignored  personal  and  national  righteousness.  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  Star  of  the  Christ  signifies  the  ultimate 
destruction  of  the  sort  of  power,  the  sort  of  reign  he 
represented.  The  door  of  entrance  into  the  spiritual 
kingdom  of  the  King  of  the  Jews  was  open  to  Herod 
and  his  court.  He  might  have  accompanied  the  Magi  in 
their  onward  march.  He  would  have  sacrificed  nothing 
by  so  doing.  The  star  of  Herod  was  not  the  star  of 
the  Christ,  however.  The  gloom  and  misery  and  dark- 
ness in  Rama  were  caused  by  a  conflict  between  these 
stars.  The  powers  of  darkness  will  ever  continue  to 
endeavor  to  obscure  the  true  star.  Herod  will  ever  try 
to  outwit  the  Magi.  If  left  to  himself  he  might  have 
succeeded.  The  Magi  might  have  been  unconscious 
executioners  of  the  Child,  but  the  cruel  king  had  not 
taken  into  consideration  the  presence,  unseen  though  it 
was,  of  the  angel  of  the  Lord. 

In  another  respect  has  this  star  influenced  the  chil- 
dren of  men.  The  tragedy  of  Bethlehem  known  to  his- 
tory as  "the  slaughter  of  the  Innocents"  though  it  may 
have  affected  a  very  much  smaller  number  of  children 
than  we  at  times  imagine — it  is  said  that  there  were 
hardly  more  than  twenty  children  of  two  years  and  under 
in  Bethlehem  at  the  time — nevertheless  becomes  epochal 
in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  marking  as  it  does 
the  death  of  the  first  martyrs  of  the  new  economy.  Thus 
early  is  the  star  supplanted  by  the  cross  as  the  symbol  to 
be  borne  by  every  true  Christian,  for  was  it  not  he  whose 
star  it  was  who  said:     "Let  a  man  deny  himself  and 


86  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

take  up  his  cross  and  follow  me."  It  was  Christ  Who 
knew  that  it  was  no  easy  matter  for  any  man  to  drink 
His  cup  or  follow  in  His  train.  The  gospel  lesson  for 
last  Sunday  ought  to  have  made  that  plain. 

Let  me  ask  you,  in  conclusion,  what  is  the  significance 
of  His  star  for  you  ?  When  did  that  star  first  appear  in 
your  life?  Was  it  in  Holy  Baptism,  when  you  uncon- 
sciously were  made  to  see  the  unseen  world,  or  was  it  in 
your  confirmation?  Was  it  at  some  particular  moment 
when  you  with  others  assembled  at  the  Table  of  the 
Lord?  Or  did  it  appear  to  you  when  you  were  not  in 
His  House,  but  were,  nevertheless,  engaged  in  His  busi- 
ness, or  were  you  at  the  time  of  its  appearance  engaged 
in  persecuting  Him? 

A  short  time  ago  it  was  my  privilege  to  minister  to  a 
woman  who  has  since  been  called  from  this  life.  She 
had  a  daughter  whose  duty  it  became  to  attend  her  every 
need,  and  the  daughter  attended  to  these  needs  most  faith- 
fully. A  short  time  after,  when  the  decease  of  this  woman 
and  the  attention  of  her  daughter  were  discussed  with  a 
friend  of  the  family,  the  friend  said:  "This  cross  came 
at  an  opportune  time,  for  the  daughter  was  drifting. 
The  compulsion  laid  upon  her  as  a  burden  at  first  became 
to  her  a  pleasurable  duty  and  has  brought  a  transforma- 
tion in  her  character  which  is  very  marked."  Thus  the 
star  may  come  to  some  of  us  in  moments  of  joy,  to  others 
in  sorrow.    If  we  look  for  it  we  shall  surely  discern  it. 

The  Magi  are  representatives  of  the  Gentile  world 
and  would  tell  us  ere  the  story  of  the  Nativity  must  give 
way  to  other  stories  of  the  Christ  that  the  good  tidings 
are,  without  doubt,  intended  for  all  people  who  will  arise 
and  accompany  them  to  Bethlehem. 


XL 

FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY. 

Luke  2 :  49. 
"Knew  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business?" 

Tradition  has  woven  its  tendrils  deftly  and  elaborately 
about  the  childhood  of  Jesus.  The  silence  of  the  gospels 
concerning  His  early  years  has  been  offset  by  the  ampli- 
fied versions  of  apocryphal  literature.  On  the  way  to 
Egypt  the  infant  child  is  made  to  supply  a  much-needed 
draught  of  cooling  and  refreshing  water  by  touching  a 
well-chosen  spot  with  the  branches  of  a  tree.  The  supe- 
riority of  the  child  Jesus  over  other  children  is  clearly 
attested  in  play.  Molding  birds  from  inanimate  clay 
He  transforms  these  lifeless  toys  into  animate  creatures 
which  obey  His  voice  or  touch,  as  caprice  may  seize  Him, 
and  fly  away.  Angered,  the  child  Jesus  transfixes  a 
youthful  playmate  into  an  inert  mass  like  unto  Lot's 
wife.  In  the  workshop  of  Joseph  the  lad  proves  Him- 
self to  be  a  genius,  fashioning  the  most  exquisite  results 
of  the  carpenter's  trade  without  adequate  instruction. 
Wherever  He  appears,  in  His  home,  in  His  foster-father's 
workshop,  in  the  market-place,  among  adults  or  among 
children,  the  genius  of  the  child  exhibits  itself  in  magic 
and  thaumaturgy. 

Turning  from  this  insipid  traditionalism  which  de- 
grades rather  than  exalts  the  Christ  Child,  the  falsity  of 
which  is  so  patent  it  need  not  be  refuted  in  the  presence 
of  Bible  students,  we  are  somewhat  startled  that  Scrip- 
ture should  tell  us  so  little  about  the  early  days  and  years 
of  Jesus.     We  may  fill  in  the  narrative,  as  biographers 

87 


86  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

of  the  Christ  have  done,  by  presenting  contemporaneous 
pictures  of  Jewish  child  life;  but  however  suggestive  such 
a  course  of  procedure  may  be,  it  does  not  add  to  the 
wonderful  dignity  of  the  gospels  on  this  subject.  The 
preparations  for  the  coming  of  the  Christ  Child,  including 
the  angelic  messages,  the  record  of  His  birth,  the  concise 
but  pregnant  statements  concerning  His  subjection  to  the 
law,  the  visit  of  the  Magi,  His  seclusion  in  Nazareth  con- 
cerning M^hich  it  is  said  "and  the  child  grew,  and  waxed 
strong,  filled  with  wisdom  and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon 
Him,"  His  appearance  among  the  doctors  in  the  temple  at 
twelve  years  of  age,  and  then  the  simple  statement  "and 
Jesus  advanced  in  wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor  with 
God  and  men,"  these  are  the  gospel  records  which  prepare 
the  way  for  our  appreciation  of  the  meaning  of  His  life. 
The  gospel  lesson  for  this  day  is  important  because  it  is 
the  connecting  link  between  the  infancy  and  the  man- 
hood of  Jesus,  because  it  affords  a  view  of  the  unfold- 
ing of  the  life  of  lives,  because  it  permits  us  to  grasp 
somewhat  of  the  habits,  the  mental  attitude  and  the 
spiritual  insight  of  the  youth.  We  must  follow  the 
course  of  the  story  ere  we  shall  be  able  properly  to 
point  its  lessons. 

It  may  be  interesting  in  passing  to  refer  to  the  sig- 
nificance to  be  attached  to  childhood  days  spent  in 
Galilee  rather  than  in  Judaea,  in  Nazareth  rather  than 
in  Jerusalem.  Galilee  and  Judaea  represented  the  poles 
of  Jewish  life.  The  very  physical  condition  of  the  two 
lands  typifies  their  citizenship.  In  the  country  to  the 
north,  with  its  fields  ripe  unto  the  harvest,  its  green 
pastures,  its  beautifully  diversified  landscape,  its  charm- 
ing sea  of  Galilee,  in  the  country  to  the  south  long 
stretches  like  unto  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho, 
barren,  rocky  desert  tracts,  valleys  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  a  sea  the  name  of  which  adequately  character- 
izes it,  this  fragmentary  description  may  indicate  why 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  89 

the  spirit  of  commerce  and  of  industry,  the  spirit  of 
acquisition  and  possession,  the  spirit  of  optimism  and 
good  will,  the  spirit  acquired  by  contact  with  the  pro- 
vincial leaders  of  a  great  empire,  characterized  the  land 
to  the  north,  while  the  spirit  of  traditionalism  and  of 
strict  adherence  to  the  letter  of  the  law,  the  spirit  of 
open  antagonism  to  the  emperor  and  the  empire  of  which 
it  was  a  part,  the  spirit  of  study  rather  than  of  com- 
merce held  full  sway  in  the  land  to  the  south.  Nazareth 
and  Jerusalem!  There  could  be  no  greater  disparity! 
Nazareth  hidden  by  the  hills,  Jerusalem  upon  their  sum- 
mit, Nazareth  a  village,  Jerusalem  a  city,  Nazareth  with 
its  little  synagogue  and  its  synagogue  school.  Jerusalem 
with  its  temple  and  its  learned  academies!  In  the 
providence  of  God  it  was  deemed  wise  that  the  Christ 
Child  should  be  reared  in  Galilee  rather  than  in  Judaea, 
in  Nazareth  rather  than  in  Jerusalem.  His  life  was  to 
be  matured  among  the  beauties  of  nature,  not  among 
its  desolate  deserts.  His  thoughts  were  to  ripen  with 
the  growing  grain  and  not  with  the  growing  seeds  of 
discontent  planted  by  the  negative  critics  of  their  day. 
It  surely  meant  much  to  have  the  child  grow  up  in  the 
environment  of  the  Jewish  home  in  Nazareth.  It  meant 
much  by  way  of  supplementary  training  to  have  this  child 
obtain  glimpses  of  the  very  different  life  of  Judaea  in 
the  annual  pilgrimages  to  Jerusalem. 

The  religious  tendency  of  the  parents  of  Jesus  was 
by  no  means  unique.  Conformity  to  the  law  was  an 
essential  for  the  Jew.  The  entire  environment  of  the 
Jewish  people  was,  as  we  know,  religious.  Hence  it  was 
not  to  be  accounted  a  work  of  superior  merit  for  the 
parents  of  Jesus  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  every  year  at  the 
time  of  the  feast  of  the  passover.  Scripture  does  not 
specifically  state  that  Jesus  did  not  go  with  Joseph  and 
Mary  to  Jerusalem  before  He  was  twelve  years  of  age. 
The  biographers  of  Jesus  infer  that  this  was  His  first 


90  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPEL'S 

visit  from  their  study  of  contemporaneous  customs.  The 
story  distinctly  says  that  His  parents  went  up  to  Jeru- 
salem every  year  at  the  feast  of  the  passover.  When 
He  was  twelve  years  of  age,  they  went  up  as  was  their 
custom  and  He  went  with  them.  The  designated  num- 
ber of  days  having  been  fulfilled  they  did  not  manifest 
any  superlative  spirit  of  religious  consciousness  by  desir- 
ing to  remain  for  the  post-passover  conferences,  but 
set  forth  on  their  journey.  We  are  led  strongly  to  be- 
lieve it  was  not  the  child's  first  journey  to  Jerusalem  be- 
cause of  the  unconcern  of  the  parents  about  the  child. 
They  were  by  no  means  the  only  pilgrims  from  Nazareth 
and  they  were  not  the  only  pilgrims  from  Nazareth  to  be- 
take themselves  with  remarkable  promptitude  upon  the 
homeward  journey.  Hence,  as  the  village  delegation  be- 
gan its  return  pilgrimage  they  believed  the  child  well 
cared  for  by  kind  neighbors.  But  as  the  first  day  of  the 
journey  passed  and  the  child  did  not  emerge  from  the 
midst  of  one  of  the  many  groups  approached  by  the 
now  anxious  parents,  they  realized  the  necessity  of  re- 
turning to  Jerusalem.  The  loss  experienced,  necessitated 
the  retracing  of  their  steps  to  their  original  goal  and 
subsequent  starting  point  and,  true  enough,  there  they 
found  Him  after  three  days,  in  the  Temple  in  the  midst 
of  the  Doctors  "both  hearing  them  and  asking  them  ques- 
tions". That  Temple  scene  has  been  well  portrayed  by  a 
master-brush  and  hand.  The  child  Jesus,  interpreting  His 
Father's  will,  and  anxious  to  obtain  the  interpretation  of 
others  in  turn,  the  center  of  it  all,  the  serious  and  rapt 
countenances  of  the  doctors  betraying  the  importance  of 
the  moment  to  them,  the  Temple  setting  betokening  the 
importance  of  the  place,  there  is  no  idle  fancy  in  a  picture 
such  as  this,  the  entire  canvas  lives  and  preaches  its  ser- 
mon concerning  the  business  of  life.  As  we  stand  before 
this  great  masterpiece  in  silent  wonder  the  parents  stood 
before  the  original  of  this  picture  a  long  time  ere  they 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  91 

fully  comprehended  the  situation  and  gently  chided  their 
child  for  what  seemed  to  them  a  bit  of  childish  disobedi- 
ence. In  the  answer  of  the  child  we  have  the  concise 
statement  of  the  lesson  the  story  is  to  teach  us. 

Knew  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi^ 
ness? 

Again,  before  proceeding,  it  will  be  necessary  to  en- 
deavor to  catch  the  real  meaning  of  the  very  first  of  the 
recorded  utterances  of  our  Lord.  The  entire  verse  in 
the  authorized  version  to  which  many  of  us  have  become 
accustomed  reads:  "And  He  said  unto  them,  how  is  it 
that  ye  sought  me?  wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my 
Father's  business?"  The  revised  version  changes  the 
obsolete  word  "wist"  for  the  living  word  "knew"  and 
directs  our  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  writer  of  the 
gospel  and  the  original  translators  of  the  gospel  did  not 
define  business  as  the  twentieth  century  exponents  of 
every-day  life  interpret  it  by  translating  the  verse:  "And 
He  said  unto  them,  how  is  it  that  ye  sought  me?  knew 
ye  not  that  I  must  be  in  my  Father's  house,"  or,  as  the 
Greek  puts  it  concerned  in,  busied  with  "the  things  of 
my  Father".  Mary  has  just  said  to  her  Son,  "Son, 
why  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us?  Behold,  thy  Father 
and  I  sought  thee  sorrowing."  Gently  but  positively 
Jesus  resents  the  insinuation  contained  in  the  words  of 
His  mother  "thy  father  and  I"  by  asserting  His  being 
engaged  at  the  very  moment  of  rebuke  in  the  things  of, 
the  business  of,  the  house  of  His  true  Father.  They 
did  not  understand  the  saying  which  He  spake  unto  them. 
We  do!  The  last  word  "Father  into  Thy  hands  I  com- 
mend my  spirit"  leaning  heavily  upon  the  former  word 
"Father  not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done,"  help  us  to  inter- 
pret the  first  word  "My  Father's  business,  My  Father's 
house,  the  things  of  my  Father".  The  flash  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  darkness  and  seclusion  of  the  hidden  life  re- 
veals purpose  of  the  highest  order.  There  is  concentration 


92  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

of  mind  upon  the  meaning,  the  business  of  life.  How 
very  different  the  story  of  the  twelve-year-old  Jesus 
and  the  apocryphal  stories  of  His  childhood!  The 
latter  aim  to  set  forth  His  genius,  His  precocious  nature. 
There  is  no  sign  of  boldness,  no  precocity  taught  in  the 
story  before  us.  We  who  have  become  accustomed  to 
sitting  at  the  feet  of  a  musical  prodigy  of  ten,  we  who 
have  been  informed  of  the  wonderful  mathematical 
demonstrations  of  a  child  before  the  mathematical 
faculty  of  one  of  the  leading  universities,  surely  we  do 
not  question  the  reasonableness  of  the  story  nor  do  we 
permit  ourselves  to  believe  it  has  been  recorded  to  set 
forth  the  supremacy  of  the  Christ  Child.  It  has  been 
written  that  we  may  observe  the  dominant  passion  in  the 
Life  of  lives.  There  is  purpose,  religious  purpose  in  it 
all.  His  environment  assisted  Him  in  the  achievement 
of  His  purpose.  Bethlehem  of  Judaea,  Nazareth  of 
Galilee,  are  hamlets  far  removed  from  the  center  of  the 
mighty  Roman  empire,  hence  better  adapted,  not  worse, 
for  the  out-working  of  a  great  purpose.  The  children 
of  Israel  are  better  adapted,  not  worse,  for  the  unfold- 
ing of  this  purpose.  Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary,  is  filled — 
not  with  pride  or  egotism^ — but  with  the  burning  desire 
to  accomplish  one  thing  and  one  only,  but  to  do  that 
well,  His  Father's  business.  Many  others  have  attempted 
to  do  the  same  thing  and  have  failed.  Moses,  the  type 
of  Christ,  was  zealous  in  the  execution  of  Jehovah's 
business,  but  there  were  moments  when  he  was  not  free 
from  the  doubts  fostered  by  his  environment  and  the 
murmurings  of  his  people.  Aaron,  the  high-priest,  was 
interested  in  his  Father's  business,  but  unfortunately 
forgot  that  business  when  he  became  an  idolatrous  priest 
and  permitted  the  worship  of  the  golden  calf.  Jonah 
was  sent  to  Ninevah  on  his  Father's  business,  but  at  the 
crucial  moment  rebelled  against  the  task  assigned.  David, 
a  man  after  God's  own  heart,  was  surely  interested  in 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  93 

God's  business,  but  he  ignored  that  business  to  satisfy 
an  unhallowed  desire.  No  men  ever  took  the  Lord's 
business  more  seriously  than  the  prophets,  yet  their  lips 
must  be  touched  with  the  live  coals  from  the  altar  of  God 
ere  their  iniquity  is  taken  away  and  their  sin  forgiven. 
Do  you  not  see  the  necessity  for  the  coming  of  the  Christ 
into  the  world  to  be  our  perfect  example  in  doing  the 
Father's  business?  That  was  His  only  passion  and  it 
was  His  passion  that  it  might  be  our  passion  as  well. 

Environment  does  influence  the  loyal  adherence  to 
purpose.  The  proper  environment  for  those  who  desire 
to  ponder  upon  their  Father's  business  is  not  that  chosen 
by  Moses  and  Aaron  and  David  and  Jonah  and  other 
leaders  of  their  people  in  their  moments  of  deflection,  but 
the  environment  of  the  boy  Jesus — the  Temple  and  its 
service  and  where  these  are  not  immediately  available 
the  seclusion  of  Nazareth  and  a  pious  home.  The  first 
five  years  of  the  training  of  a  Jewish  child  in  the  century 
in  which  Christ  lived  were  devoted  to  the  rudiments,  the 
real  rudiment  being  the  Bible.  The  Bible  was  taught 
the  child  by  the  mother.  Those  early  years  of  Jesus 
spent  in  companionship  with  His  Father's  Word  fitted 
Him  as  nothing  else  could  have  fitted  Him  for  the 
services  of  His  Father's  house,  and  engagement  in  the 
things  of  His  Father. 

A  mind  centered  upon  the  business  of  life  has  escaped 
the  superficiality  of  the  age  and  has  found  its  anchorage 
in  the  conviction  of  the  ages.  There  were  moments  in 
the  consciousness  of  the  Virgin  mother  when  she  arose 
to  the  full  meaning  of  life  as  when  she  uttered  the 
Magnificat,  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  contributions  to 
sacred  song,  but  ordinarily  she  does  not  comprehend  her 
Father's  business.  There  is  a  certain  superficiality  in 
her  observance  of  the  law,  doing  nothing  more  than  is 
required.  There  is  a  certain  superficiality  in  her 
conduct  in   the   home   of   the   young   people   at   Cana. 


94  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

There  is  a  certain  superficiality  in  her  utter  inability  to 
comprehend  her  Son's  mission  even  though  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  endeavored  to  make  it  very  plain.  Mary's 
superficiality  can  only  be  cured  by  a  constant  process  of 
pondering  and  prayer.  Is  it  not  true  that  some  of  us  at 
least  are  not  as  deeply  interested  as  we  should  be  in  our 
Father's  business  because  of  our  own  superficiality  or 
that  of  our  environment?  We  have  never  been  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  life  in  its  richest  and 
deepest  significance.  Our  homes  have  not  fostered  Bible 
study  as  did  the  Jewish  homes  of  old.  Our  fickle  spirits 
have  never  rested  sufficiently  long  to  permit  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  begin  His  regenerating  work  in  our  hearts. 
We  have  never  been  compelled  to  wrestle  with  an  unseen 
power. 

The  two  extremes  are  most  manifest  today  to  any  one 
who  has  eyes  and  a  sense  of  perception.  On  the  one 
hand  there  goes  marching  up  and  down  the  thoroughfare 
of  life  the  great  army  of  boys  and  girls,  men  and  women 
who  have  never  attacked  or  been  attacked  by  a  real  prob- 
lem because  they  have  never  had  a  real  purpose  in 
life.  They  have  drifted  and  are  drifting  along  ever 
seeking  a  job  ^nd  never  a  vocation,  ever  seeking  change 
and  never  a  limitation  to  things  worth  while.  The  other 
great  army  also  consists  of  men  and  boys,  girls  and 
women,  the  latter  in  ever-increasing  numbers,  who  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  Martha,  are  so  cumbered  with 
much  serving  of  a  purely  temporal  character,  so  intensely 
interested  in  and  laboring  over  a  problem  of  a  highly  spe- 
cialized nature  they  have  no  time  to  sit  with  Mary  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus  and  listen,  simply  listen.  To  them  life  has 
no  receptive  phase  as  it  concerns  the  great  eternal  truths 
of  the  Kingdom.  To  them  life  means  physical  activity, 
tabulated  results,  increased  vocational  efficiency. 

May  I  not  plead  with  you  this  morning  to  break  ranks 
if  you  are  in  one  or  the  other  of  these  armies?     If  you 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  95 

are  in  the  first  army  surrender  your  commission  uncon- 
ditionally. You  cannot  afford  for  your  own  sake  to  con- 
tinue to  be  superficial.  If  in  the  second  army  of  earnest 
toilers  who  have  drifted  from  their  moorings  in  view 
of  the  cares  of  this  life  leave  the  army  not  as  a  toiler 
who  ceases  to  labor,  but  as  a  toiler  who  combines  real 
labor  in  the  acquirement  of  spiritual  things  with  labor  for 
the  acquirement  of  material  things.  A  passion  for  your 
Father's  business  will  result  in  the  adjustment  of  every 
relationship  in  life.  "Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness  and  all  these  things  will  be  added 
unto,  you." 


XII. 
SECOND  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY. 

John  2:  4. 
"Mine  Hour  is  not  yet  Conie." 

The  great  stride  from  youth  to  manhood  indicated  in 
the  sequence  of  the  Gospel  narrative  is  only  exceeded  by 
the  chasm  in  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  creed  we  confess. 
In  the  creed,  immediately  after  the  statement  concern- 
ing the  birth  of  Christ  we  confess  our  faith  in  His 
passion.  The  gospel  lesson  for  last  Sunday  presented  to 
us  the  twelve-year-old  Christ  Child  in  the  Temple,  and 
in  today's  lesson  we  have  before  us  the  God-man  Jesus, 
as  He  asserts  His  glory  and  His  power  in  the  first 
miracle  performed  at  Cana  of  Galilee.  The  reason  for 
this  sudden  transition  is  very  obvious.  Neither  gospel 
nor  creed  profess  to  be  biographies  of  Christ. 

Naturally  we  ask  ourselves:  why  should  we  begin  the 
story  of  the  full-grown  man  in  this  way?  Would  it  not 
have  been  better  to  have  begun  our  study  of  the  life 
of  Christ  with  the  story  of  the  temptation,  so  graphically 
described  for  us  by  several  of  the  evangelists?  Ought 
we  not  logically  begin  this  study  with  the  story  of  His 
baptism?  Ought  it  not  specifically  mark  the  beginning 
of  the  work  of  the  God-man  as  some  have  reasoned? 
Why  should  we  not  begin  with  the  narrative  of  the  call- 
ing of  the  twelve  disciples?  Was  not  this  the  most 
important  episode  at  the  very  commencement  of  the  labors 
of  the  Master?  Again  we  ask  ourselves,  why  should 
we  begin  this  study  with  a  miracle?  Does  not  Jesus 
Himself  say:  "except  ye  see  signs  and  miracles,  ye  will 

96 


SECOND  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  97 

not  believe"?  And  when  Thomas  appears  before  the 
risen  Christ,  does  He  not  rebuke  him  by  saying  to  him: 
"Thomas,  because  thou  hast  seen  me,  thou  has  beUeved. 
Blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen  and  yet  have  be- 
lieved." Was  there  not  in  a  miracle  as  the  starting- 
point  of  His  work,  a  concession  to  their  weakness?  Again 
we  ask:  why  such  a  miracle  as  this?  Why  was  it  not  a 
miracle  of  healing  or  of  raising  from  the  dead?  Was 
the  greatest  possible  power  manifest  in  the  miracle  at 
Cana,  and  would  it  not  have  been  better  if  a  miracle 
marking  the  beginning  of  His  career  had  been  any  other 
than  this? 

The  answer  to  the  various  questions  here  propounded 
by  many  men  of  many  schools  is  very  clearly  set  forth 
in  the  story  itself  in  the  words  of  Jesus,  when  He  says: 
"Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come." 

It  was  only  the  third  day  after  His  manifestation  to 
the  disciples  while  their  faith  was  still  very  weak  and  they 
did  not  yet  comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  great  tran- 
sition that  had  taken  place  in  their  lives,  when  they 
escorted  Jesus  to  Cana  of  Galilee.  The  mother  of  Jesus 
was  well  known  there  in  a  family  in  which  there  was  to 
be  a  wedding  feast,  and  through  her  acquaintance  with 
the  family  an  invitation  was  extended  to  Jesus  and  His 
disciples.  She  who  had  known  her  Son  during  all  the 
formative  years  of  His  life — years  spent  in  meditation 
and  humility  and  helpfulness — must  have  been  surprised 
to  behold  Him  as  He  came  to  the  feast,  attended  by  a 
small  band  of  disciples,  for  the  number  was  not  yet 
complete.  She  did  not  need  this  visible  sign  of  His 
leadership.  Consequently  when  there  was  found  to  be 
a  lack  in  the  provision  for  the  feast,  the  mother  of  Jesus 
turned  to  her  Son  and  said:  "They  have  no  wine,"  Jesus 
employing  a  common  Greek  designation,  not  thereby 
meaning  to  cast  any  aspersion  upon  her  answered: 
"Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee?     Mine  hour  is 


98  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

not  yet  come."  The  harshness  of  the  English  transla- 
tion hardly  does  justice  to  the  question  as  Jesus  put  it. 
His  mother  proves  that  she  was  not  offended  by  her 
Son's  response.  Going  to  the  servants,  she  said:  "What- 
soever He  saith  unto  you,  do  it."  Six  waterpots  of 
stone  standing  there,  after  the  manner  of  the  purifying 
of  the  Jews,  were  to  become  conspicuous  objects  in  the 
first  miracle  of  Jesus,  for  these  He  commanded  to  be 
filled  with  water.  The  command  was  obeyed.  An  addi- 
tional injunction  that  they  should  draw  out  and  bear 
unto  the  Governor  of  the  feast,  was  likewise  heeded. 
The  surprise  of  the  ruler  of  the  feast  is  complete.  He 
called  the  bridegroom  and  chidingly  said  unto  him: 
"  'Every  man  at  the  beginning  doth  set  forth  good  wine, 
and  when  men  have  well  drunk,  then  that  which  is  worse ; 
but  thou  hast  kept  the  good  wine  until  now!'  This  be- 
ginning of  miracles  did  Jesus  in  Cana  of  Galilee  and 
manifested  forth  His  glory;  and  His  disciples  believed 
on  Him." 

We  have  said  the  entire  story,  with  the  various  intro- 
ductory questions,  revolves  around  the  statement  of  Jesus, 
"Mine  hour  is  not  yet  come."  The  silent  years  of  prep- 
aration at  Nazareth  were  spent  in  looking  forward  to 
that  hour.  What  irriportant,  dignified  years  they  must 
have  been !  Filled  to  the  brim  with  holy  purpose ;  anxious 
that  life  might  be  concentrated  on  one  thing  only,  the 
accomplishment  of  His  Father's  business.  There  came, 
of  course,  repeatedly  during  those  years  the  realization 
of  the  importance  of  that  hour  and  the  desire  to  meet 
that  hour  adequately  and  unflinchingly.  And  now  that 
Jesus  has  emerged  from  His  home  at  Nazareth,  no 
longer  a  youth,  but  a  full-grown  man,  ready  to  enter 
upon  the  work  that  the  Father  has  given  Him  to  do, 
that  Father's  love  which  has  already  appointed  the  hour, 
again  appoints  it,  through  Mary  His  mother.  No  longer 
was  there  to  be  a  hesitancy  concerning  the  mission  of 


SECOND  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  99 

life.  The  summons  to  meet  the  hour  comes  not  from 
Mary,  but  simply  through  Mary.  He  who  summons 
is  the  Father,  utilizing  Mary  as  the  one  best  qualified  to 
convey  to  the  Son  this  important  message.  Conse- 
quently, we  shall  be  able  to  understand  both  the  injunc- 
tion of  Mary  and  the  Son's  response.  Her  injunction 
demands  the  solution  of  a  problem  which  she  believes  that 
He  alone  can  solve,  and  the  Son's  response  indicates 
that  however  much  He  has  owed  to  her  in  the  past,  she 
cannot  now  help  Him  to  solve  the  great  problem  of 
life.  He  alone  must  do  that.  The  summons  to  meet 
the  hour  comes  from  the  Father,  through  His  mother, 
but  comes,  as  it  were,  as  a  valedictory,  for  these  are 
the  last  recorded  words  of  the  mother  of  Jesus. 

From  this  time  forth.  He  is  busily  engaged  in  carry- 
ing out  His  method  of  meeting  the  hour.  What  is  that 
method?  Self-sacrifice!  He  apparently  does  absolutely 
nothing.  The  servants  do  it  all.  Mary  lends  the  initia- 
tive by  telling  Him:  "They  want  wine."  He  commands 
the  servants  to  fill  the  water-pots  with  water.  They  do 
it.  He  commands  them  to  draw  out  and  bear  unto  the 
Governor.  They  do  it.  The  ruler  of  the  feast,  tasting 
the  wine,  pronounces  it  proper  for  the  use  for  which  it 
is  intended.  Throughout  it  all  there  is  no  touch  of 
Jesus,  there  is  no  outward  demonstration  of  power.  He 
who  is  in  the  center  of  the  picture  is  lost  completely, 
whereas  Mary  and  the  servants  and  the  bridegroom 
and  the  ruler  of  the  feast  and  the  disciples  seem  to  be 
the  dominating  characters.  Thus  He  proves  His  method 
abundantly  in  meeting  the  hour,  and  we  begin  to  see 
the  importance  of  this  gospel  lesson,  standing  as  it  does, 
at  the  very  threshold  of  His  official  career.  Self-sacrifice 
through  His  passion:  that  is  His  method  of  meeting  the 
hour.  He  apparently  does  nothing  but  suffer.  Others 
are  the  aggressors.  Others  buffet  and  smite  and  commit 
Him  to  prison  and  weave  a  crown  of  thorns  and  place 


loo  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

a  rod  in  His  hands  and  rear  the  Cross  and  nail  Him 
to  the  Cross.  Others  do  it  all;  He  simply  suffers-sacri- 
fices  Himself. 

And  so  likewise  the  history  of  the  Church  throughout 
the  ages  has  followed  the  example  of  our  blessed  Lord 
and  Master  in  accepting  His  method  in  meeting  the  hour. 
The  Church  has  not  always  been  strong  in  those  mo- 
ments when  it  has  seemed  to  be  outwardly  most  aggres- 
sive. But  the  greatest  victories  of  the  Church  have  been 
won  in  moments  of  suspense  and  self-sacrifice — moments 
that  did  not  count  in  the  eyes  of  the  world  while  those 
moments  were  passing,  but  moments  that  we  have  come 
to  recognize  as  the  great  crucial  periods  of  the  Church's 
history. 

His  method  of  meeting  the  hour  was  not  only  by 
self-sacrifice,  but  by  sympathy  as  well.  Christianity  is 
something  far  other  than  Jewish  Christianity,  There  is 
a  divine  economy  in  the  appearance  of  Paul  as  the 
Apostle  to  the  Gentiles;  for  had  Jewish  Christianity 
continued  its  sway  during  the  first  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian Era,  the  impress  left  upon  history  would  have  been 
far  different  than  it  has  been.  There  was  so  much  of 
the  cynical,  so  much  of  legalism,  so  much  narrowness 
in  the  Jewish  conception  of  religion,  and  life  as  influ- 
enced by  religion,  that  it  became  necessary  for  the  Savior 
at  the  very  beginning  of  His  ministry  to  prove  the  joy- 
fulness  of  Christianity,  which  He  does  by  His  appear- 
ance at  the  marriage  feast.  Throughout  the  gospels  the 
figure  of  the  Marriage  Feast  appears  and  reappears  as 
the  proper  symbol  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Jesus  is  not 
ascetic  in  His  person.  He  does  not  withdraw  from  the 
world,  but  He  states  very  broadly  and  concisely  in  this 
very  first  incident  His  social  position.  He  must  appear 
to  human  beings,  and  He  manifests  Himself  first  of  all 
to  the  human  family  in  its  most  joyful  moments.  The 
sympathy  which  He  asserts  in  His  method  in  meeting  the 


SECOND  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  loi 

hour  sets  forth  very  clearly  the  human  element  in  Chris- 
tianity as  well  as  its  joyful  element.  Christianity  recog- 
nizes human  ties  and  bonds.  It  moves  in  a  human  en- 
vironment. It  desires  that  the  Christian  Church  shall 
be  "the  communion  of  the  saints,"  but  as  such  it  need 
not  be  segregated  from  all  interest  in  the  affairs  of  this 
world.  No  picture  is  more  human,  more  temporal,  more 
illustrative  of  this  world  and  the  affairs  of  this  world, 
than  the  picture  of  the  Marriage  Feast. 

And  thus  the  hour  of  Jesus  dawned  typically  in  the 
miracle  before  us.  The  water  transformed  into  wine  is 
like  unto  the  change  effected  in  passing  from  Judaism 
to  Christianity.  It  is  the  change  effected  in  passing  from 
the  thought  and  realm  of  the  Roman  and  Greek  world 
to  the  thought  and  realm  of  the  Christian  world.  In 
the  Roman  and  Greek  world,  there  were  masters  of  the 
feast,  but  they  did  not  recognize  by  what  power  the  water 
had  been  changed  to  wine.  Hence,  we  say  the  trans- 
formation of  the  water  into  wine  is  typical  of  a  radical 
reconstruction.  Slavery  had  its  day,  but  has  been  com- 
pelled to  yield  to  nobler  ideas  of  freedom.  Woman  has 
resumed  the  position  accorded  her  by  Scripture.  Great 
social  movements  have  been  going  forward.  We  have 
begun  to  realize  the  ethical  value  in  life.  We  have  come 
to  a  consciousness  of  high  moral  purpose,  and  do  not 
permanently  allow  those  who  have  no  such  purpose  to 
dominate  in  the  affairs  of  life.  Reconstruction  has  taken 
place.  The  water  has  been  turned  into  wine ;  a  mystery 
to  the  master  of  the  feast  and  a  mystery  to  the  children 
of  this  age,  but  not  a  mystery  to  the  servants  who  know 
Him  who  commanded   and   it  was   done. 

How  vivid  and  striking  an  experience  must  this  have 
been  to  John  the  disciple ;  only  a  few  days  before  he  had 
been  called  to  this  discipleship,  together  with  those  who 
had  been  the  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist.  They  had 
come  in   from   the   wilderness,   where   their   food   was 


102  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

locusts  and  wild  honey.  They  had  come  from  this  great 
seething  mass  of  frantic  human  beings,  who  objected  to 
the  truth  as  it  was  told  them,  and  now,  suddenly,  he 
with  the  others  has  been  ushered  into  a  banquet-hall. 
There  has  been  a  radical  transformation  in  his  concep- 
tion of  religion,  a  joyful  thing,  a  very  human  thing,  a 
thing  of  power,  a  thing  of  glory  and  yet  with  it  all  a  very 
spiritual  thing.  How  remlarkable  the  results  of  that  one 
hour  must  have  been :  and  now  we  realize  the  importance 
of  this  particular  miracle,  standing  in  its  place  at  the  very 
beginning  of  Christ's  life  work.  "Mine  hour  is  not  yet 
come"  He  could  say  who  foreknew  the  great  purpose 
and  meaning  of  His  life,  who  realized  that  the  hour  of 
darkness  and  of  the  powers  of  this  world  was  upon  Him 
who  had  not  yet  tasted  of  the  bitter  agony  in  the  Garden 
of  Gethsemane,  and  who  knew  full  well  that  His  disciples 
would,  even  there,  not  be  able  to  watch  with  Him  for  one 
hour.  His  hour  did  not  come  until  there  upon  the  Cross 
He  looked  down  upon  Mary  His  mother  and  John  His 
disciple  and  they  together  were  able  to  realize  as  they 
had  never  realized  before  the  meaning  of  the  words 
uttered  at  that  marriage  feast  in  Cana  of  Galilee. 

And  as  we  turn  to  the  last,  and,  in  many  respects,  the 
most  wonderful  of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  the  Book  of 
Revelation,  we  are  permitted  in  that  new  heaven  and 
new  earth  to  appear  at  the  marriage  feast  of  the  Lamb. 
His  hour  came  as  He  looked  down  upon  Mary  and 
John  and  gave  up  the  ghost,  and  we  shall  feel  that  our 
hour  has  come  when  we  shall  be  permitted  to  see  the 
fulfilment  of  that  which  even  now  is  prophetic,  when 
the  temporal  picture  of  the  marriage  feast  at  Cana  of 
Galilee  shall  be  but  a  poor  type  of  the  fulfilment  which 
we  shall  witness  in  its  most  exalted  form. 


XIII. 
THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY. 

Matthew  8 : 3,  13. 

"And  straightway  his  leprosy  was  cleansed  ....  and  the  servant 
was  healed  in  that  hour." 

The  manifestation  of  Christ's  real  self  as  a  youth  in 
the  temple  and  as  a  full-grown  man  in  the  little  home 
at  Cana  of  Galilee  is  to  be  followed  today  by  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Christ  as  He  stands  before  us,  the  help- 
ful, sympathetic  Savior  of  the  world.  It  is  eminently 
proper  that  as  in  the  childhood  stories  the  narrative  of 
the  Gentile  Magi  should  follow  immediately  upon  the 
recital  of  the  manifestation  of  the  child  to  the  Judaean 
shepherds,  Matthew  should  have  linked  the  story  of  the 
healing  of  the  Jewish  leper,  who  is  told  to  go,  show 
himself  to  the  priest,  and  offer  the  gift  that  Moses  com- 
manded, for  a  testimony  unto  them,  with  the  story  of 
the  centurion  and  his  slave,  the  centurion  again  represent- 
ing the  Gentile  world.  At  the  very  beginning  of  our 
investigations  concerning  the  active  ministry  of  Christ 
we  are  to  realize  that  He  stands  before  us  as  no  one 
person  in  history  ever  appeared,  the  Savior  not  of  a  race, 
but  of  all  races,  the  Savior  of  the  world. 

Another  important  point  should  not  be  forgotten  in 
the  consecutive  study  of  the  gospel  lessons.  As  we  are 
to  begin  our  studies  by  observing  the  life  of  Jesus  that 
we  may  be  assured  it  is  the  Life  of  lives,  we  are  to 
enter  upon  this  consideration  with  eyes  open  to  the 
significance  of  the  steps  we  are  taking.  It  is  for  this 
very  reason  that  Jesus  appears  before  us  as  at  once  the 

103 


104  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

embodiment  of  mercy  and  of  power,  mercy  resting  upon 
the  pillars  of  love  and  justice  and  truth,  these  pillars 
unitedly  forming  the  sub-structure  of  power.  You  can- 
not, you  dare  not  divorce  the  Christ  and  miracles;  if  you 
do,  the  New  Testament  has  lost  its  validity  and  Christ 
His  sincerity.  Right  here  at  the  beginning  of  our  dis- 
cussions for  another  year  there  is  a  two-fold  testimony 
of  miraculous  power  resulting  in  the  exercise  of  divine 
mercy. 

The  great  lesson  which  we  desire  to  point  out  today 
on  the  basis  of  the  stories  before  us  is  the  lesson  of 
Divine  helpfulness  in  view  of  human  helplessness.  These 
are  the  two  poles  of  life,  helplessness,  despair,  gloom, 
darkness,  destruction,  the  grave ;  helpfulness,  hope,  light, 
the  Sun  of  righteousness,  life.  The  two  poles  are  ever 
contrasted  in  the  gospel  record  because  they  are  ever  con- 
trasted in  life.  The  endeavor  of  the  gospel  records  is  so 
clearly  to  point  to  Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth  and 
the  Life  we  shall  never  more  be  found  in  the  army  of 
the  helpless,  but  evermore  in  the  ranks  of  those  who, 
having  been  lifted  up,  are  ready  to  help  others. 

True  helpfulness  asserts  itself  in  the  sound  advice 
which  must  be  part  of  the  very  self  of  him  who  offers 
it  and  in  the  sound  example  which  must  make  possible 
and  re-enforce  the  sound  advice.  In  both  these  respects 
Christ  is  and  must  ever  remain  our  ideal.  There  are 
individuals  who,  from  a  human  standpoint,  approximate 
this  ideal,  but  only  as  they  reflect  the  ideal.  Undoubtedly 
the  centurion  reflects  the  ideal  and  we  are  permitted  in 
the  stories  of  our  text  to  compare  and  contrast  the  help- 
fulness of  Christ  and  the  centurion  in  order  that  we  may 
appropriate  to  ourselves  the  lesson  involved. 

True  helpfulness  is  well  illustrated  in  the  example  of 
the  centurion.  If  we  turn  to  the  account  in  Luke  we 
shall  find  that  he  first  sent  certain  elders  of  the  Jews 
to  Jesus  to  intercede  for  his  slave.     Either  the  duties 


THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  105 

of  the  centurion  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  go  directly 
to  the  Master  or  he  felt  that  representatives  of  the 
Master's  own  race  would  have  greater  influence  with 
Him.  In  either  case  he  does  the  right  thing.  If  it  was 
true  that  his  duties  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  leave 
his  post  and  go  to  the  Master,  his  example  in  believing 
it  to  be  his  duty  to  send  messengers  to  Jesus  is  com- 
mendable. The  excuse  offered  so  often  "I  cannot  come" 
is  not  a  legitimate  excuse.  Perhaps  you  cannot  accom- 
plish certain  things  in  person.  Perhaps  you  cannot  walk 
away  from  duties  which  God  has  placed  directly  in  your 
path ;  as  your  duties  expand,  your  resources  will  expand 
and  there  is  some  one  awaiting  your  orders,  ready  to 
execute  them.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  centurion  re- 
frained from  visiting  the  Master  in  person  because  he  be- 
lieved the  commission  could  be  better  performed  by  those 
of  the  Master's  race,  he  did  not  thereby  asert  his  own 
lack  of  faith,  as  his  words  testify,  but  showed  forth  his 
exceeding  great  love  for  the  slave  who,  according  to  the 
gospel,  was  "dear  unto  him".  The  centurion  was,  uncon- 
sciously it  may  be,  but  nevertheless  truly,  offering  an 
opportunity  of  priceless  worth  to  his  messengers  to  get 
to  know  Jesus  and  through  Him  the  way  of  life. 

The  evangelist  again  alludes  to  the  real  spirit  of  help- 
fulness on  the  part  of  the  centurion  in  recording  the 
exact  statement  of  the  elders  on  their  arrival.  They 
say  to  Jesus :  "He  is  worthy  that  Thou  shouldest  do  this 
for  him;  for  he  loveth  our  nation,  and  himself  built  us 
our  synagogue."  In  other  words,  the  helpfulness  of  the 
centurion  asserts  itself  in  a  very  practical  way  in  the 
expenditure  of  his  money  in  the  interests  of  religion. 
The  contact  of  this  Roman  officer  with  people  of  an  alien 
race,  ever  ready  to  assert  their  unwillingness  to  accept 
a  religion  which  meant  little  to  Romans  in  authority,  and 
ever  ready  to  uphold  their  institutions,  had  undoubtedly 
had  its  effect  upon  the  course  of  his  life.    He  as  a  Roman 


io6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

was  willing  to  spend  his  money  in  the  building  of  a  syna- 
gogue and  felt  that  money  so  spent  would  be  wisely  spent. 
What  an  example  to  the  men  and  women  of  today !  Dur- 
ing the  course  of  the  week  several  great  buildings  in  our 
city  are  to  be  dedicated.  They  have  been  made  possible 
by  the  contributions  of  the  Christian  men  and  women  of 
this  city.  As  Christian  Association  buildings  they  are  to 
serve  a  distinct  purpose  in  the  life  of  the  community. 
Individuals  have  subscribed  very  heavily  to  the  fund  of 
over  a  million  dollars,  which  has  been  collected  and 
almost  all  of  which  has  been  raised.  Friends,  we  ought 
not  disparage  such  a  work  as  that,  but  the  question  does 
arise  in  many  minds  and  will  not  down,  would  not  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  spent  for  the  endowment  of  a 
church  of  Jesus  Christ  net  greater  results  in  the  exten- 
sion of  the  Kingdom  of  God  than  an  equivalent  sum 
spent  for  boys'  and  young  men's  clubs?  Why  is  it  again, 
that  our  men  and  women  will  subscribe  heavily  to  philan- 
thropic interests  and  very  meagerly  to  the  distinctively 
spiritual  work  of  the  Kingdom?  Are  they  as  truly 
helpful  as  they  might  be  ?  Are  they  upholding  the  hands 
of  their  servants,  or  are  they  asking  them  to  make 
bricks  without  straw?  True  helpfulness  is  a  helpful- 
ness that  costs  something. 

But,  after  all,  the  truest  type  of  helpfulness  is  not  a 
helpfulness  that  can  be  measured  by  dollars  and  cents, 
but  must  be  measured  by  service.  To  the  casual  observer 
the  life  of  the  centurion  may  not  have  appeared  to  be  a 
life  of  service.  The  casual  observer  notices  the  giving 
of  commands,  not  their  reception,  the  authority  exercised, 
not  the  freedom  restrained.  The  casual  observer  notices 
the  difference  between  the  uniform  of  the  centurion  and 
that  of  his  men.  He  does  not  notice  the  difference  in 
uniform  between  the  centurion  and  his  superior  officers. 
The  casual  observer  does  not  realize  the  significance  of 
the  centurion's  own  words,  "I  also  am  a  man  set  under 


THIRD  SUNDlAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  107 

authority."  It  is  because  of  its  training  in  the  subordi- 
nation of  self  to  the  higher  interests  of  the  nation  that  a 
military  training  such  as  that  afforded  by  Rome  was  a 
valuable  asset.  No  man  who  is  unwilling  or  unable  to 
fit  into  the  place  in  society  which  is  rightly  his  can  ever 
expect  to  be  a  vital  factor  in  the  doing  of  the  world's 
work.  The  Roman  centurion  was  able  to  master  the 
trying  situation  in  his  home  as  his  servant  was  lying  there 
very  ill,  not  so  much  because  he  had  been  trained  to  give 
commands,  but  rather  because  he  had  been  trained  to 
look  up,  to  seek  guidance  and  instructions  from  a  higher 
source.  This  training  made  it  possible  for  a  proud 
officer  of  the  world's  greatest  army  of  his  day  to  subject 
himself  at  once  to  the  best  interests  of  his  slave  and  the 
wishes  of  a  Jewish  Rabbi  under  whose  authority  he  was 
ever  after  to  be. 

True  helpfulness  asserts  itself  in  the  mastery  of  the 
problems  of  others.  Undoubtedly  this  is  true  of  the  cen- 
turion. Do  we  imagine  for  a  moment  that  he  built  a 
synagogue  for  the  Jews  without  having  thought  the 
matter  over  carefully?  Does  he  not  weigh  the  question 
of  cost  and  expediency  and  uplift?  Does  he  not  realize 
how  much  of  an  asset  that  synagogue  would  be.  Does 
he  not  realize  the  worth  of  a  slave,  who  makes  himself 
indispensable  to  his  master?  Does  he  not  set  wheels 
in  motion  looking  to  the  restoration  of  that  servant  which 
proves  the  intensity  of  his  thought?  Does  he  not  appre- 
ciate the  worth  of  the  Master  of  all  men  in  deeming  him- 
self unworthy  to  come  to  that  Master  in  person?  Does 
he  not  further  testify  to  that  worth  by  being  willing  not 
to  insist  upon  the  personal  presence  of  the  Master,  but 
by  simply  asking  Him  to  utter  the  word  which  brings 
restoration?  He  proves  to  us  that  he  knows  his  sol- 
diers, their  duties  and  their  capabilities.  He  knows  the 
Jews  among  whom  it  has  been  decreed  he  is  to  live.  He 
knows  the  elders  whom  he  despatches  upon  an  important 


io8  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

errand.  He  knows  the  worth  of  his  servant.  Above  all, 
he  knows  the  Master.  We  can  never  be  truly  helpful 
until  we  have  placed  ourselves  in  the  positions  of  those 
whom  we  would  help  or  influence  or  from  whom  we 
would  ask  a  favor  that  is  worth  while.  The  historians 
of  Rome  say  of  the  centurions  that  they  were  steady  and 
serious  rather  than  bold  and  venturesome.  They  were 
men  who,  unlike  their  generals,  held  back  as  long  as 
possible,  but  when  once  the  order  was  given  for  an  ad- 
vance, it  was  executed  at  any  cost.  Isn't  it  true  that 
these  are  the  marks  of  true  helpfulness?  Isn't  it  true 
that  those  who  would  be  thus  characterized  must  be 
steady  and  serious  rather  than  quick  and  venturesome? 
How  much  thought  do  we  put  into  our  neighbor's  prob- 
lems? How  many  sacrifices  are  we  willing  to  endure 
for  his  sake? 

In  doing  homage  to  the  Lord  the  centurion  loses  noth- 
ing and  gains  very  much.  If  only  we  could  rid  ourselves 
of  the  idea  of  personal  station,  personal  worth,  personal 
prestige  in  coming  to  the  Master.  If  we  could  but  for- 
get who  we  are  and  what  we  are  as  we  come  into  the 
House  of  the  Lord  in  our  desire  to  commune  solely  with 
Him,  how  much  more  of  real  worth  the  service  would 
have  in  store  for  us  and  how  much  greater  the  blessing 
would  be  which  we  should'  enjoy.  How  much  more 
helpful  we  would  be  as  we  emerge  from  the  service  to 
take  up  again  the  station  assigned  to  us  and  now  trans- 
figured by  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  After  all,  if  we  would 
learn  the  true  meaning  and  application  of  helpfulness 
we  must  turn  from  the  centurion  who  has  revealed  this 
virtue  to  us  from  its  human  standpoint  to  Christ  who  will 
reveal  to  us  the  essence  of  Divine  helpfulness. 

Divine  helpfulness  rests,  of  course,  on  Divine  power 
and  love.  Undoubtedly  the  centurion  was  brought  time 
and  again  into  direct  contact  with  leprosy  and  all  sorts 
of  disease.     We  are  not  told  that  he  healed  the  sick. 


THIRD  SUNDJAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  109 

We  are  not  told  that  he  ever  pretended  to  do  so.  He 
was  a  soldier  who  represented  the  power  of  Rome,  not  a 
disciple  who  represented  the  power  of  God  or  a  physician 
who  represented  the  science  of  medicine.  But  here  comes 
one  who  is  sent  of  God,  the  very  Son  of  God,  moving 
in  an  atmosphere  of  sin  and  sickness,  among  a  people 
whose  faith  is  weak  and  needs  to  be  strengthened,  among 
a  generation  that  has  been  accustomed  to  signs  and  won- 
ders. The  question  is  not  so  much  why  did  Jesus  resort 
to  miracles  in  healing  the  sick,  the  question  is  rather 
how  could  Jesus  have  refrained  from  exercising  the 
power  which  belonged  to  Him  when  confronted  by  a 
faith  such  as  that  of  the  leper,  on  the  one  hand,  or  the 
centurion,  on  the  other.  He  was  incarnate  power  and 
they  who  came  to  Him  in  true  faith  were  ever  to  expe- 
rience the  efficacy  of  this  power. 

The  helpfulness  of  Jesus  rests  upon  Divine  Love.  He 
was  not  the  cold  and  stoic  Roman  who  reasoned  out  His 
position,  but  the  sanely  emotional  Israelite  who  entered 
into  communion  with  His  brother,  listened  to  his  plea, 
and  if  it  was  found  to  be  an  honest  plea,  assumed  the 
burden  of  the  pleader,  and  granted  his  request.  We 
cannot  imagine  a  centurion,  noble  man  though  he  was, 
touching  the  leper  in  order  that  this  poor  outcast  might 
feel  a  brother's  hand  laid  upon  him.  And  yet  that  is 
just  what  Jesus  does,  the  one  thing  no  one  else  would 
do.  And  Jesus  does  it  that  the  leper  may  experience  the 
blending  of  power  and  love  in  one  and  the  same  never- 
to-be-forgotten  touch. 

The  helpfulness  of  Jesus  asserts  itself  in  its  power 
of  penetration  to  the  utmost  ends  of  the  earth.  He 
heals  the  centurion's  servant  though  he  does  not  enter 
the  centurion's  home.  Would  you  call  this  absent  treat- 
ment? I  would  not.  It  was  present  treatment,  the 
power  of  Jesus  manifesting  itself,  not  through  human 
agencies,  but  directly;  the  unseen  power  of  God  was  at 


no  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

work  in  answer  to  a  prayer.  And  this  power  will  not 
limit  itself  to  a  circumscribed  environment  or  nation.  It 
is  as  manifest  in  the  healing  of  the  leper  as  it  is  in  the 
healing  of  the  centurion's  servant,  though  the  one  be 
a  Jew  and  the  other  a  servant  of  a  gentile. 

Christ  does  not  act  slowly  or  deliberately  in  response 
to  the  pleadings  of  genuine  faith.  The  leper  is  cleansed 
straightway.  The  centurion's  servant  is  healed  in  that 
hour.  Divine  helpfulness  is  ever  ready  to  act  and  does 
act  quickly.  It  is  so  unlike  the  helpfulness  of  the  cen- 
turion and  of  us  the  descendants  who  wait  until  the  last 
moment  ere  we  extend  a  helping  hand  and  when  the 
hand  is  extended  we  find  it  is  too  late,  our  brother  has 
fallen. 

The  helpfulness  of  Jesus  would  teach  us,  furthermore, 
the  necessity  of  an  adequate  remedy.  Leprosy  can  be 
eased  by  us.  It  can  be  healed  only  by  Christ.  The  cen- 
turion's servant  might  have  been  healed  by  a  physician 
of  today,  but  the  centurion's  life  could  not  be  made  a 
better,  stronger,  more  helpful  life  than  it  then  was  save 
by  Christ.  The  remedy  of  Christ  is  adequate  because 
it  is  nothing  less  than  the  rebuilding  of  the  whole  man. 
It  does  not  mean  the  expulsion  from  the  system  of  a 
germ.  It  does  not  mean  the  restoration  of  wasted  tissues. 
It  means  the  re-creation  of  man.  It  means  putting  off 
the  old  man  and  putting  on  the  new. 

Dear  friends,  the  centurion's  life,  helpful  as  it  was 
before  he  came  into  contact  with  Christ,  was  undoubtedly 
a  vastly  more  helpful  life  after  the  recovery  of  his  ser- 
vant. Surely  he  was  a  Philemon  and  his  one-time  slave, 
his  brother  Onesimus,  and  both,  disciples  of  Jesus. 


XIV. 
FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY. 

Matthew  8 :  25-26. 

"And  they  came  to  him,  and  awoke  him,  saying,  Save,  Lord;  wc 
perish.  And  he  saith  unto  them,.  Why  are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little 
faith?" 

Great  crowds  of  people  have  been  attracted  by  the 
preaching  of  Jesus.  They  are  in  nucleus,  at  If-ast,  the 
same  crowds  that  have  been  listening  to  the  sledge-ham- 
mer thrusts  of  John,  but  they  have  grown  in  numbers 
and  they  have  acquired  an  added  desire  to  hear.  No  one 
has  ever  preached  as  did  Jesus  when  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  he  unfolded  the  real  significance  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  and  asserting  its  real  constitution,  laid  down 
certain  standards  and  established  certain  tests,  standards 
and  tests  clearly  emphasized  in  God's  dealings  with  His 
people  in  the  days  of  the  old  covenant,  but  misunderstood, 
misinterpreted  and  wilfully  misconstrued  by  the  very 
leaders  of  the  people,  some  of  the  later  representatives 
of  whom  are  in  His  audience.  Comiing  down  from  the 
mount,  Jesus  has  at  once  sought  to  apply  the  religion  He 
has  been  teaching,  in  His  contact  with  individual  souls. 
He  meets  a  poor  leper  whose  request  to  be  made  clean 
is  granted.  He  is  confronted  by  a  centurion  whose  ser- 
vant is  lying  at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  tor- 
mented. The  faith  of  the  heathen  centurion  is  rewarded 
as  was  that  of  the  Jewish  leper.  Jesus  enters  Peter's 
house  simply  to  find  himself  again  confronted  by  sick- 
ness. The  mother  of  Peter's  wife  is  lying  sick  of  a 
fever.  Jesus  heals  her.  Do  you  suppose  that  an  activity 
such  as  this  can  continue  indefinitely  without  any  respite 

III 


112  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

on  the  part  of  one  who,  though  He  be  the  Son  of  God, 
has  assumed  human  nature?  Do  you  not  realize  how 
very  essential  it  was  for  Him  to  rest,  especially  if  you 
bear  in  mind  the  many  reverses  and  misunderstandings 
with  which  even  now  He  is  compelled  to  contend  ?  Bear 
in  mind  the  coming  of  the  scribe  whose  impetuosity  has 
made  him  absolutely  blind  to  what  is  really  involved  in 
following  Jesus  withersoever  He  is  to  go.  Remember 
also  the  coming  of  the  disciple  who  believes  it  proper  for 
Jesus  to  wait,  to  put  aside  His  program,  until  he,  the 
disciple,  has  gone  to  bury  his  father,  a  task  to  which 
others  can  attend,  whether  he  has  been  a  faithful  son 
during  his  father's  lifetime  or  not. 

Jesus  needs  to  withdraw  from  the  multitude.  He 
needs  to  withdraw  from  the  individuals  who  are  emerg- 
ing from  that  multitude  to  harass  Him  with  all  sorts  of 
petty  questions.  The  surest  way  of  withdrawing  is  by 
way  of  the  lake  and  by  means  of  the  boat  which  has 
already  been  gotten  ready  for  Him  in  response  to  the 
direct  contmand  issued  to  the  disciples.  And  thus  at 
eventide,  after  a  day  which  has  been  a  veritable  benedic- 
tion to  the  great  multitude  now  assembled  about  the 
shores  of  the  lake,  Jesus  enters  into  a  boat  and  His  dis- 
ciples follow  Him.  The  wondrous  restfulness  of  the 
scene  need  not  be  portrayed  to  those  whose  good  fortune 
it  has  been  to  launch  their  own  boats  or  the  boats  of 
their  friends  at  eventide  for  an  hour  or  two  of  silent 
contemplation  of  the  wonders  of  God  manifest  in  the 
dying  radiance  of  one  orb  and  the  rising  radiance  of 
another;  in  the  sense,  which  must  come  to  true  children 
of  God  at  such  a  time,  of  being  alone  with  their  Father. 
Jesus  needed  solitude.  He  needed  rest.  Solitude  and 
rest  are  to  be  found  in  the  boat  of  the  disciple,  not  as  it 
lies  along  the  strand,  but  as  it  is  pushed  out  into  the  deep 
beyond  the  reach  of  a  multitude  which  dare  not  follow 
Him  at  once,  though  it  will  not  forever  remain  behind. 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  113 

The  childlike  trust  of  Jesus  is  beautifully  portrayed  in 
the  record  of  the  event  preserved  by  Mark.  He  Himself 
was  in  the  stern,  asleep  on  the  cushion.  But  while  He 
slept  conditions  were  fast  changing.  A  storm  arose! 
Was  it  due  to  an  earthquake  beneath  the  lake  as  Matthew 
has  been  interpreted  or  to  a  great  wind  which  swept 
down  from  the  mountainside  and  across  the  bosom  of 
the  waters,  as  the  other  evangelists  seem  to  think?  This 
does  not  matter  to  us,  for  the  important  thing  is  the 
arising  of  the  storm  from  whatever  cause.  And  the  next 
important  thing  is  to  note  the  extraordinary  fear  on  the 
part  of  men  who  are  sailors  as  they  come  to  the  sleeping 
Jesus,  arouse  Him  from  the  rest  He  so  much  needs  and 
bid  Him  realize  the  condition  of  their  boat,  rapidly  filling 
with  water  as  the  waves  are  dashing  over  the  side. 

Friends,  is  there  not  in  the  state  of  mind  of  these 
men  a  very  important  lesson  to  those  of  us  who  even 
yet  at  times  experience  the  sense  of  fear  in  our  every- 
day life?  Is  there  any  one  person  in  this  congregation 
who  never  has  a  moment  of  fear,  induced  by  whatsoever 
cause?  Are  we  exempt  from  a  feeling  which  at  some 
time  or  other  seems  to  have  possessed  even  the  stoutest 
hearts  of  all  ages?  Are  the  great  men  and  women  of 
Europe  today  absolutely  free  from  every  pang  of  this 
dread  monster's  influence  ?  Are  our  leaders  as  they  face 
the  new  responsibilities  of  a  new  day  absolutely  fearless  ? 
Are  we  fearless  as  we  face  the  morrow?  If  not,  is  there 
any  cure  for  this  malady,  for  surely  it  is  a  malady?  Yes, 
friends,  there  is  a  cure  for  it,  but  in  order  that  we  may 
apply  the  remedy  we  must  know  the  cause.  In  order  that 
we  may  know  the  cause  our  diagnosis  must  be  careful 
and  painstaking.  Was  there  any  reason  why  the  disciples 
acted  as  they  did  ?  Could  they  or  would  they  have  acted 
differently  under  other  circumstances  ?  Would  such  other 
action  have  promoted  peace  and  health  and  life?  If  so, 
our  investigation  is  worth  while.     In   endeavoring  to 


114  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

trace  the  cause  of  fear  we  shall  bear  in  mind  the  con- 
crete illustration  presented  in  the  gospel  lesson  for  this 
day.  There  is  no  doubt  about  it,  the  disciples,  fishermlen 
though  they  be,  sailors  though  they  be,  accustomed  to 
boats  and  the  management  of  boats,  even  in  crises,  know- 
ing the  comparatively  little  lake  of  Galilee  perfectly,  have 
suddenly  forgotten  every  rule  of  seamanship  as  their 
boat  rocks  wildly  and  dangerously  in  the  trough  and  upon 
the  crest  of  a  raging  storm.  What  shall  they  do  ?  What 
can  they  do?  Their  coming  to  Jesus,  under  ordinary 
circumstances  a  most  laudable  thing,  is  at  this  juncture 
a  sign  of  weakness  and  merits  the  rebuke  with  which  the 
Master  addresses  them. 

Fear  is  the  fastening  of  the  mind  upon  the  object  to  be 
feared.  When  the  disciples  came  to  the  sleeping  Jesus 
with  their  cry,  "Save,  Lord;  we  perish,"  they  did  not 
place  sufficient  emphasis  upon  the  first  two  words.  They 
placed  the  emphasis  upon  the  last  two  "we  perish."  The 
storm  had  suddenly  assumed  not  the  guise  of  an  enemy 
to  be  fought  and  conquered,  but  the  form  of  an  invincible 
demon  in  whose  presence  they  counted  for  absolutely 
nothing,  in  whose  embrace  their  boat  was  but  a  shell,  and 
they  mere  toys.  Their  thought  of  Jesus  was  secondary. 
Their  thought  of  the  storm  was  primary.  Their  great 
momentary  concern  was  not  a  concern  for  the  Kingdom 
the  interests  of  which  were  being  jeopardized  by  the 
storm;  it  was  not  a  concern  for  Jesus,  it  is  a  question 
whether  they  included  Him  in  their  thought  in  crying 
out  "we  perish,"  their  momentary  concern  was  not  for 
their  families  who  would  naturally  suffer  as  the  result 
of  their  loss.  Their  one  thought  was  the  storm.  The  one 
picture  painted  by  their  mental  anguish  was  a  picture  of 
despair,  of  impending  doom,  of  death.  Suppose  Jesus 
had  not  been  in  that  boat  at  that  moment,  of  course  they 
would  have  perished.  They  deserved  nothing  more. 
Their  mind  fastened  upon  destruction  and  death  invited 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  115 

the  very  agencies  of  which  they  were  afraid.  Their  boat 
was  filling  with  water.  What  were  they  doing  to  offset 
this  calamity.  The  storm  was  swooping  down  upon  them. 
Why  were  they  not  driving  into  its  very  teeth  bidding  it 
defiance?  Isn't  it  tragic  to  realize  that  a  man  like  Peter 
was  in  that  boat,  a  man  whose  impetuosity  made  him  so 
strong  at  times,  and  so  weak  at  other  times?  There  is 
another  classic  illustration  of  Peter's  fear  which  drives 
home  the  point  we  have  been  endeavoring  to  make.  Jesus 
has  been  led  away  by  the  band  of  legalistic  outlaws  to 
the  home  of  Caiaphas,  the  high-priest,  where  the  scribes 
and  elders  were  gathered  together  and  this  same  Peter 
followed  Him  afar  off  because  he  was  anxious  to  see  the 
end  of  it  all.  While  sitting  in  the  court  a  maid  came 
to  him,  and  then  another  and  a  third  time  people  came 
to  him  saying  "of  a  truth  thou  art  also  one  of  them?" 
What  was  it  that  made  Peter  curse  and  swear?  What 
was  it  that  made  him  say,  *T  know  not  the  man?"  Noth- 
ing other  than  fear.  As  he  sat  in  the  semi-darkness  of 
the  court  with  a  bad  conscience,  realizing  undoubtedly 
that  his  place  ought  not  to  be  there,  but  beside  the  Master ; 
as  he  saw  the  guard,  as  he  listened  to  the  by  no  means  un- 
certain conversation,  he  saw  death  staring  Jesus  in  the 
face,  and  he  saw  death  staring  him  in  the  face.  One  word 
might  have  sent  him  in  to  be  the  companion  of  Jesus 
on  the  via  dolorosa,  one  statement  on  his  part  might  have 
influenced  the  authorities  to  erect  an  additional  cross. 
Peter  saw  it  all  and  he  shrank  from  it  all.  He  was  afraid. 
In  his  moment  of  fear  he  saw  death  and  nothing  else. 
He  did  not  see  Jesus.  He  did  not  remember  the  words 
of  Jesus.  He  did  not  think  of  Jesus.  He  thought  of  no 
one  except  himself.  He  did  the  inevitable  thing  under 
the  circumstances.  His  fear  forced  him  to  deny  his 
Savior.  The  very  thing  which,  in  a  sane  moment,  he 
would  not  have  thought  of  doing,  he  did.  Fastening  the 
mind  on  an  object  to  be  feared  can  have  but  one  result. 


Ii6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

It  can  never  end  otherwise  than  in  tragedy.  We  need 
not  add  further  illustrations.  This  is  exactly  what  hap- 
pens in  our  moments  of  fear.  We  fasten  the  mind  ten- 
aciously upon  the  object  to  be  feared. 

Now,  fastening  the  mind  tenaciously  upon  the  object 
to  be  feared  brings  about  a  loss  of  the  sense  of  propor- 
tion and  drives  out  of  the  mind  the  very  things  we  need 
to  offset  the  fear.  As  we  have  seen,  the  disciples  had 
but  one  thought  as  they  realized  the  severity  of  the  storm, 
the  thought  of  perishing.  Their  going  to  Jesus  to  arouse 
Him  was  not  the  act  of  calm,  heroic  men.  It  was  rather 
the  act  of  hysterical  men  who  had  lost  every  vestige  of 
self,  of  trust,  of  faith,  of  proportion.  Remember,  if  you 
please,  they  were  not  Christians  when  subjected  to  this  ex- 
perience; they  were  very  weak,  Jewish  disciples  of  the 
Christ,  and  then  compare  their  conduct  with  the  conduct 
of  other  men  of  the  nineteenth  century,  whose  lives,  at 
least  some  of  them,  were  not  at  all  times  exemplary,  but 
who,  having  directly  or  indirectly  come  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Christianity,  could  stand  as  heroes  upon  the  decks 
of  a  sinking  vessel  helping  others  into  lifeboats  while  lis- 
tening to  the  strains  of  the  hymn  "Nearer  My  God  to 
Thee"  and  preparing  to  meet  their  God.  Surely  the  sink- 
ing of  the  Titanic  reminding  us  of  Babylon  in  one  respect, 
reminds  us  as  well  of  the  enormous  advance  made  by  man- 
kind through  the  power  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
driving  out  fear.  Fear  causes  a  loss  of  the  sense  of  pro- 
portion. It  is  true  the  storm  was  raging  on  the  lake  of 
Galilee.  It  is  true  the  little  boat  was  rapidly  being  filled. 
It  is  true  a  storm  is  not  to  be  welcomed  as  an  auspicious 
visitor.  It  is  equally  true  the  sun  was  shining  in  many 
regions  not  affected  by  the  storm.  It  is  true  that  storms 
constitute  the  intensive  moments  of  life  and  yield  in  turn 
to  the  more  extensive  moments  of  life.  The  disciples 
thought  of  nothing  but  the  storm.  Jesus  would  have  them 
rise  above  self  and  think  of  other  things  or  at  least 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  117 

think  of  themselves,  the  disciples  of  Christ,  as  victors 
over  storms.  We  speak  of  people  as  mono-maniacs  when 
they  have  lost  all  sense  of  proportion.  Fear  produces 
mono-maniacs.  We  may  be  perfectly  reasonable  in  every 
respect  save  one,  but  in  giving  way  to  fear  we  have 
allowed  that  one  mania  of  ours  to  drive  out  and  sup- 
plant every  good  and  true  and  holy  motive.  If  fear  can 
thus  be  diagnosed  as  the  fixing  of  the  mind  upon  an  un- 
desirable and  disproportionate  object  do  you  not  see  that 
it  is  comparatively  simple  to  prescribe  a  cure  ? 

Its  cure  lies  in  doing  exactly  what  the  disciples  did, 
though  the  doing  of  it  must  be  done  in  quite  another 
way.  They  had  started  on  a  journey  across  the  lake  of 
Galilee,  depending  upon  their  own  skill.  They  took  Jesus 
along  with  them  upon  this  journey  as  a  guest,  not  as 
their  pilot.  They  counted  upon  His  services,  if  at  all,  as 
a  last  resort,  not  as  essential  to  the  beginning,  continuance 
and  ending  of  their  journey.  Contrast  again,  if  you 
please,  the  conduct  of  these  disciples  in  the  emergency 
which  has  arisen,  as  they  face  death,  with  the  conduct  of 
the  Master  as  a  little  later  He  faces  death  and  realizes 
not  its  probability  but  its  absolute  certainty.  They  rush, 
as  frightened,  hysterical  distracted  children  to  him  Who 
alone  can  help  them,  indicating  by  their  rude  awakening 
their  helplessness  and  unbelief.  On  the  other  hand,  Jesus 
has  from  the  very  beginning  of  His  life  upon  earth  en- 
trusted Himself  completely  to  the  keeping  of  His  Father. 
He  has  come  to  do  His  will.  He  listens  to  His  voice,  obeyg 
His  commands,  consults  with  Him  from  day  to  day  and 
from  hour  to  hour.  Jesus  lives  in  the  Father  and  the 
Father  in  Jesus.  The  Father  was  the  pilot  of  Jesus'  life 
and  Jesus  trusted  His  pilot.  There  is  something  won- 
derfully helpful  and  stimulating  to  every  Christian  in  the 
contemplation  of  this  relationship  of  the  Son  to  the 
Father.  If  the  relationship  of  the  disciples  to  Jesus  had 
at  the  moment  of  the  storm  on  the  lake  been  similar  to 


ii8  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  relationship  of  Jesus  to  the  Father  they  would  have 
asked  Jesus  to  help,  but  they  would  have  done  it  in  a 
very  different  spirit  and  in  a  very  different  manner.  They 
had  not  yet  learned  the  lesson  they  were  about  to  learn. 
They  did  not  realize  that  their  journey  across  the  lake 
was  but  typical  and  symboHcal  of  the  journey  ot  life; 
they  did  not  then  appreciate  the  value  of  having  Jesus 
aboard  their  craft  as  its  pilot.  How  were  they  to  elimi- 
nate the  fear  which  held  them  captive?  By  according 
to  Christ  His  rightful  place.  As  soon  as  Christ  is  in 
command  of  their  craft  their  unbeHef  is  rebuked,  their 
fear  is  driven  out  and  the  winds  are  rebuked.  Dear 
friends,  is  it  not  true  that  it  makes  all  the  difference  in 
the  world  whether  Christ  is  simply  to  be  a  guest  on  your 
craft,  allowed  during  at  least  a  great  part  of  your  trip 
to  be  both  out  of  your  sight  and  out  of  your  mind  as  He 
is  permitted  to  slumber  somewhere  in  the  stern,  or  its 
pilot,  in  complete  control  of  the  vessel  and  bound  to  bring 
you  safely  into  port?  The  words  of  Jesus  addressed  to 
the  disciples  are  just  as  pertinent  when  addressed  to  us 
at  the  present  day:  "Why  are  ye  fearful,  O  ye  of  little 
faith?"  Their  fear  was  produced  because  there  was  not 
some  bigger  faculty  of  mind  and  heart  and  soul  to  keep 
it  out  of  their  lives.  If  there  had  been  faith  in  their 
hearts  fear  would  have  found  no  lodgment  there.  Faith 
produces  assurance,  but  faith  centers  in  personality  and 
whereas  their  faith  was  sufficiently  strong  to  drive  them 
to  Christ  in  an  emergency,  their  faith  was  not  sufficiently 
strong  to  keep  their  boat  on  an  even  keel.  "They  could 
not  at  that  moment  have  said  with  Paul:  "We  are  more 
than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us."  Shall  we 
not  examine  ourselves?  Shall  we  not  admit  our  journey 
has  often  been  interfered  with  by  storms  of  all  sorts  be- 
cause we  have  not  permitted  the  relationship  to  be  estab- 
lished between  ourselves  and  Christ  which  Christ  permit- 
ted to  exist  between  Himself  and  the  Father?    If  it  be 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  119 

true  that  fear  is  caused  by  the  fastening  of  the  mind  on 
the  object  to  be  feared  it  is  equally  true  that  fear  will  be 
forever  banished  if  another,  more  helpful,  more  health- 
ful, more  vital  object  shall  be  permitted  to  act  as  an  anti- 
dote. Friend,  as  Christ  accomplished  the  work  and  the 
passion  placed  upon  Him  strengthened  by  His  Father, 
may  we  with  equal  candour  and  devotion  acknowledge 
that  Jesus  is  the  pilot  of  our  ship. 


XV. 
FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY. 

Matthew  13 :  24-25. 

"The  Kingdom  of  heaven  is  likened  unto  a  man  that  sowed  good 
seed  in  his  field:  but  while  men  slept  his  enemy  came  and  sowed 
tares  also  among  the  wheat,  and  went  away." 

To  the  Jew  of  Jesus'  day  the  parable  was  not  unique. 
As  he  listened  to  the  teachings  of  the  preceptors  of  the 
race  he  found  emerging  from  the  discourse  as  its  climax 
a  parable  drawn  from  life.  But  there  was  this  great 
difference  between  the  parables  of  Jesus  and  those  of 
the  Jews,  in  the  latter  everything  that  had  been  said  led 
up  to  a  final  analogy  which  was  apt  to  make  the  hearer 
forget  the  real  lesson.  For  Jesus  the  parable  was  the 
real  starting  point.  It  was  but  an  introduction  to  sus- 
tained thought  concerning  a  difficult  subject.  No  subject 
was  more  thoroughly  misunderstood  by  the  contempo- 
raries of  Jesus  than  that  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  yet 
no  subject  was  more  important.  Hence  we  can  readily 
understand  the  emphasis  placed  by  Jesus  on  parables 
of  the  Kingdom,  their  multiplication  until  every  detail 
was  illumined  by  parabolic  teaching.  And  we  can  also 
understand  the  otherwise  enigmatic  statement  of  Jesus 
concerning  the  parables :  "Unto  you  it  is  given  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven,  but  to  them  it 
is  not  given.  For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given, 
and  he  shall  have  abundance;  but  whosoever  hath  not, 
from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath. 
Therefore  speak  I  to  them  in  parables  because  seeing 
they  see  not,  and  hearing  they  hear  not,  neither  do  they 
understand.    And  unto  them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of 

120 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  121 

Isaiah  which  saith:  By  hearing  ye  shall  hear  and  shall 
in  no  wise  understand ;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and  shall 
in  no  wise  perceive ;  for  this  people's  heart  is  waxed  gross, 
and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes  they 
have  closed ;  lest  haply  they  should  perceive  with  their 
eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears,  and  understand  with  their 
heart,  and  should  turn  again,  and  I  should  heal  them." 
Christ  has  not  closed  the  eyes  and  ears  and  hearts  of 
these  people.  He  has  not  restrained  them.  He  has  not 
endeavored  to  make  things  hard  for  them,  but  they  have 
closed  their  ears  and  eyes  and  hearts.  They  have  come 
to  ridicule  and  to  criticise.  They  have  come  to  inform 
Him  that  they  have  done  all  these  things  from  their  youth 
up.  They  have  come  with  no  real  interest  in  the  message 
of  the  Kingdom  and  consequently  this  teaching  in  para- 
bles means  little  to  them,  but  for  that  matter  no  teaching 
would  have  meant  more.  Fortunately  there  are  some 
in  that  audience  who  are  anxious  to  be  His  disciples, 
anxious  to  learn  of  Him  and  just  as  the  parables  as  mere 
introductory  statements  mean  nothing  to  those  who  have 
hardened  their  hearts,  they  mean  infinitely  much  to  those 
whose  hearts  are  open  to  the  influences  of  the  Spirit.  And 
you  and  I  with  the  benefit  of  these  twenty  centuries  be- 
hind us  find  the  parables  of  Jesus  to  be  great  store- 
houses of  truth.  The  storehouses  will  forever  remain 
closed  to  them  who  endeavor  to  seek  mere  mental  food, 
but  will  ever  remain  open  to  those  who  realize  the  value 
of  spiritual  analogies,  spiritual  influences,  spiritual  seed- 
thoughts.  Take,  for  instance,  this  parable  concerning 
the  tares  found  in  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  Matthew, 
a  chapter  that  teems  with  just  such  teaching  concerning 
the  Kingdom.  Let  us  endeavor,  with  the  help  of  the 
Spirit,  to  seek  out  its  lessons.  "The  Kingdom  of  heaven," 
Jesus  says,  "is  likened  to  a  man  that  sowed  good  seed  in 
his  field ;  but  while  men  slept  his  enemy  came  and  sowed 
tares  also  among  the  wheat,  and  went  away."    The  ques- 


123  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

tion  asked  by  the  servants  is,  of  course,  the  question  we 
must  ask,  and  this  question  concerns  the  disposition  of 
the  tares.  What  shall  we  do  with  the  tares?  There  is 
a  three-fold  answer,  the  answer  of  the  wakeful  enemy, 
the  answer  of  the  drowsy  servants  and  the  answer  of  the 
watchful  householder.  The  parable  proves  to  us  as  so 
many  other  parables  do,  the  keen  power  of  observation 
of  our  Lord.  We  can  hardly  imagine  any  one  doing  just 
what  this  enemy  of  the  householder  did.  It  seems  such 
a  contemptible  thing  to  do,  this  dastardly  undoing  of  the 
beneficent  activity  of  another,  this  example  of  spite  work 
pure  and  simple.  Think  of  the  motives  which  prompt  any 
such  person.  Think  of  the  utter  lack  of  principle.  Think 
of  the  actual  suffering  involved  for  many  who  are  de- 
pendent upon  the  fruition  of  the  seed  planted  in  that 
field.  And  yet  we  are  told  that  this  particular  method  of 
showing  enmity  or  revenge  was  by  no  means  unusual  in 
the  orient.  We  are  told  of  instances  in  which  exactly 
this  thing  was  done,  after  a  householder  had  spent  earn- 
est thought  upon  the  preparation  of  his  soil,  after  he 
had  spent  time  and  of  his  substance  in  securing  the  very 
best  possible  seed,  after  he  had  secured  laborers  to  plant 
the  seed,  after  everything  had  been  done  that  the  human 
mind  and  hands  can  do  in  the  constructive  work  of  the 
world,  an  enemy  who  for  some  reason  or  other  believed 
himself  to  have  been  wronged  by  this  householder,  in 
order  to  show  his  resentment  went  out  into  the  field,  while 
men  slept,  and  in  the  silence  and  seclusion  of  the  night 
planted  seeds  of  darnel,  seeds  of  a  weed  so  much  like  the 
grain  which  the  householder  had  planted  in  its  first  ap- 
pearance, it  must  be  given  time  and  hence  power  to  assert 
its  destructive  sway  ere  it  can  be  discovered  and  rooted 
out.  And,  of  course,  the  rooting  out  is  a  difficult,  tedious 
and  dangerous  process.  We  of  the  cities  and  of  a  later 
Christian  century  may  not  actually  go  out  into  the  fields 
of  another  man  to  undo  the  work  he  has  there  done,  per- 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  123 

haps  because  we  are  not  engaged  in  agriculture,  but  is 
it  not  true,  that  acting  under  the  inspiration  of  Satan, 
the  enemy  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  we  are  far  too  often 
engaged  in  the  very  thing  we  here  brand  as  despicable. 
In  the  unjust  judgments  which  we  subtly  and  in  a  some- 
times concealed  manner  render  concerning  others,  in 
the  attempt  to  resort  to  unfair  business  methods,  in  the 
rivalries  which  have  passed  the  stage  of  good-natured 
competition,  in  the  effort  to  undermine  the  faith  and 
Christian  life  of  another,  by  thought  and  word  and  deed, 
we  are,  day  by  day,  doing  or  attempting  to  do  just  what 
this  enemy  of  the  oriental  householder  did.  And,  strange 
and  sad  to  say,  we  practice  these  methods  until,  with  the 
enemy  of  the  parable,  we  believe  ourselves  to  be  justi- 
fied in  doing  what  we  do.  In  answer  to  the  question, 
"What  shall  we  do  with  the  existing  tares,"  the  wake- 
ful enemy  answers:  "your  weak  efforts  will  not  change 
the  order  of  the  universe  nor  will  they  change  the  course 
of  a  single  life.  There  are  certain  forces  at  work  and 
they  will  continue  to  work  until  the  end  of  time.  In  the 
economy  of  things  there  is  a  place  for  tares  otherwise 
they  would  not  exist,  hence  it  is  best  to  look  upon  them 
as  part  of  this  world  and  if  necessary  utilize  them."  Of 
course,  this  wakeful  enemy,  though  he  reasons  thus, 
proves  by  his  action  that  his  thought  and  his  deed  have 
not  been  brought  into  complete  subjection  to  the  thought 
of  the  world  ^bout  him.  He  is  not  in  full  accord  with 
the  best  thought,  represented  by  the  conscience  of  his 
neighbors,  and  that  is  the  reason  the  man  who  reasons 
in  this  way  acts  quietly,  stealthily,  secretly,  clandestinely. 
He  cannot  afford  to  work  by  day  for  he  still  cherishes 
the  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens.  Another  reason  why 
he  dare  not  work  by  day  is  because  by  doing  so  he  would 
be  brought  into  direct  conflict  with  the  forces  of  right- 
eousness and  he  is  shrewd  enough  to  know  that  that  is 
unwise,   as  it  eventually  means  his  overthrow.      In  a 


124  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

recent  story  picturing  a  prevalent  phase  of  life,  a  man 
who  engages  in  certain  ventures  in  disposing  of  securities 
which  possess  no  value  and  concerning  which  he  knows 
that  they  possess  no  value,  is  asked  by  a  friend:  "'Do  you 
re-visit  the  people  to  whom  you  have  sold  these  stocks? 
Do  you  find  they  continue  to  be  your  friends?"  With- 
out any  apparent  shame  the  destroyer  of  honest  inter- 
course among  men  answers:  "No,  as  a  rule,  I  do  not 
find  it  possible  to  interest  persons  a  second  time,  and  as 
for  holding  them  as  friends,  that,  too,  is  often  impossible, 
but  then,  you  know,  there  is  a  certain  fascination  in  deal- 
ing with  new  faces  and  in  making  new  friends."  There 
are  men  and  women  today,  some  readily  distinguish- 
able, others  not  so  easily  pointed  out,  who  engage 
in  this  dastardly  work  of  destroying  trust,  of  tearing 
down  the  buildings  that  have  been  reared  with  great 
efifort,  of  uprooting  plants  that  have  been  nurtured  with 
great  care,  of  undoing  the  work  in  which  honest  men 
and  women  engage.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  the 
parables  of  Jesus  were  all  of  them  uttered  as  a  protest 
against  the  false  standards,  the  false  accusations,  the 
subtle  thrusts  and  questionings  of  the  enemies  of  Jesus; 
they  were  called  forth  by  the  regular  nightly  prowling 
of  the  Pharisees  and  scribes  and  perhaps  of  others  who 
ought  equally  be  censured.  These  false  leaders  were  not 
the  servants  of  the  living  God  as  people  supposed  them  to 
be,  they  were  tools,  pliable  tools  in  the  hands  of  Satan. 
Of  course,  Jesus  means  that  Satan  is  the  enemy  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  He  means  that  Satan  is  he  who  is 
sowing  seeds  of  weeds  where  good  seed  has  already  been 
planted.  Jesus  knows  with  whom  He  has  to  wage  war- 
fare. He  knows  that  this  conflict  is  being  carried  on  with 
one  who  works  secretly  and  He  knows  that  Satan  em- 
ploys tools.  We  ought  not  to  divert  our  attention  from 
the  real  meaning  of  the  parable  and  the  proper  interpre- 
tation of  its  characters,  but  as  the  parables  are  answers 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  125 

to  the  craftiness  of  the  Pharisees  they  ought  still  to  be 
looked  upon  as  parables  of  the  twentieth  century  life  in 
which  Satan  employs  real  men  and  women  to  do  the 
things  he  himself  shrinks  from  doing. 

There  is  a  second  answer  to  the  question  "What  shall 
we  do  with  the  tares?"  It  is  the  answer  suggested  by 
the  servants  of  the  householder:  "And  the  servants  of 
the  householder  came  and  said  to  him,  Sir,  didst  thou 
not  sow  good  seed  in  thy  field?  Whence  then  hath  it 
tares?  And  he  said  unto  them.  An  enemy  hath  done 
this.  And  the  servants  say  unto  him.  Wilt  thou  then  that 
we  go  and  gather  them  up?"  The  surprise  of  the  ser- 
vants is  evident  and  genuine.  They  have  been  engaged 
in  agriculture  long  enough  to  know  that  the  householder 
has  sowed  good  seed.  Their  confidence  in  his  knowledge 
and  judgment  is  unimpaired  as  they  come  to  apprise  him 
of  an  unfortunate  state  of  affairs  and  offer  their  services 
to  offset  the  ravages  which  have  been  wrought.  Let  us 
not  be  unkind  in  our  judgment  of  these  servants.  They 
have  toiled  earnestly  and  long.  They  have  borne  the 
heat  and  labor  of  the  day.  They  have  endeavored  to  be 
faithful.  And  yet  what  a  correct  picture  of  the  disciples 
these  servants  present  and  we  may  say,  what  a  correct 
picture  of  those  who  have,  in  the  various  ages  of  the 
church's  life,  been  servants  of  their  Master.  They  have 
toiled  during  the  day.  Some  may  have  toiled  during  the 
night.  But  there  has  been  a  lack  of  concentrated,  intelli- 
gent, faithful,  continuous  service  in  the  vineyard.  There 
have  been  too  many  nights  when  the  field  has  been  left 
entirely  unprotected.  They,  the  servants,  have  needed 
rest  and  no  one  will  deny  them  this  need,  but  there  ought 
to  have  been  other  servants  able  and  ready  to  stand  sen- 
tinel in  order  that  the  field  might  not  be  left  unprotected. 
We  know  that  in  certain  districts  the  custom  observed 
in  the  orient  still  prevails  and  that  instead  of  make-believe 
men  to  guard  the  fields  from  the  ravages  of  birds  there 


126  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

are  real  men  to  guard  them  from  the  ravages  of  wild 
beasts  and  of  men.  Too  often  there  have  been  make- 
believe  men  in  the  Lord's  vineyard  and  too  seldom  have 
real  men  stood  watch  as  Satan  endeavored  to  overthrow 
the  work  of  the  true  servants.  In  our  own  time  there 
has  been  a  growing  sense  of  consciousness  that  some  of 
these  real  men  and  women  must  be  the  men  and  women 
who  occupy  the  pews,  not  as  they  leave  the  pews  and 
enter  into  a  necessary  official  relationship,  but  as  they 
recognize  the  duty  incumbent  upon  laymen  to  further  the 
interests  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  servants  in  the 
parable  not  only  imitate  the  disciples  in  their  desire 
for  sleep  at  crucial  moments,  but  they  are  very  much  like 
them  in  their  desire  so  often  to  do  the  wrong  thing.  Their 
efforts  are  honest  and  well-meant,  but  misdirected.  They 
follow  the  initiative  of  their  contemporaries  and  herein 
again  we  note  the  keen  power  of  observation  on  Christ's 
part.  We  are  told  that  it  was  no  unusual  thing  in  His 
day  in  the  holy  land  to  see  great  bands  of  people  in  the 
fields,  doing  exactly  this  work  of  trying  to  get  rid  of 
weeds  in  growing  grain.  Jesus  would  say:  There  are 
many  well-meant  but  misdirected  efforts  which  must  be 
curbed  because  they  are  harmful.  To  most  men  and 
women  not  acquainted  with  the  situation  the  proposed 
solution  appeals  as  a  considerate  remedy.  Its  fallacy 
will  appear  manifest  as  we  learn  more  about  the  culti- 
vation of  fields  or  the  cultivation  of  the  Lord's  vineyard. 
Hence  it  is  important  to  consider  the  answer  of  the  house- 
holder to  the  question  concerning  the  disposition  of  the 
tares.  As  the  servants  ask  him  whence  the  tares  come 
and  add  "wilt  thou  then  that  we  go  and  gather  them 
up"  ?  the  householder  answers,  "Nay,  lest  haply  while  ye 
gather  up  the  tares,  ye  root  up  the  wheat  with  them. 
Let  both  grow  together  until  the  harvest,  and  in  the  time 
of  the  harvest  I  will  say  to  the  reapers,  gather  up  first 
the  tares,  and  bind  them  in  bundles  to  burn  them,  but 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  127 

gather  the  wheat  into  my  barn."  Tares,  a  positive  good ; 
that  is  Satan's  answer;  tares,  a  positive  evil,  hence  to  be 
uprooted  immediately,  that  is  the  servants'  answer ;  tares, 
a  positive  evil,  but  lest  we  mistake  wheat  for  tares  and 
tares  for  wheat,  let  them  both  grow  together  until  the 
harvest;  that  is  the  answer  of  the  householder,  the  answer 
of  Jesus  and  the  answer  of  God.  When  the  servants 
come  to  their  master  with  their  sorrowful  story  they  are 
surprised  to  find  before  them  one  who  is  not  at  all  per- 
turbed as  they  are.  He  is  even  more  directly  affected,  be- 
cause the  loss  will  rest  most  heavily  upon  him.  Yet  he 
seems  to  have  anticipated  the  enemy's  deed.  Perhaps  in 
view  of  this  very  anticipation  the  seed  has  been  more 
thickly  planted,  which  would  make  it  all  the  more  difficult 
to  distinguish  between  the  tares  and  the  wheat.  At  any 
rate,  in  a  very  calm  way,  this  householder  who  has  been 
informed  of  a  terrible  mischief  that  has  been  wrought, 
instead  of  furthering,  restrains  the  zeal  of  his  servants. 
In  restraining  the  zeal  of  his  servants  he  eliminates  many 
mistakes  that  would  otherwise  be  made  by  permitting  the 
wheat  to  ripen.  This  is  one  of  the  laws  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God  which  it  is  so  difficult  for  many  persons  to  under- 
stand. Ordinarily,  of  course,  we  would  say,  eradicate 
evil  as  soon  as  it  appears.  Do  not  permit  it  to  exist  for 
one  moment  longer  than  necessary.  Undoubtedly  this 
rule  would  be  followed  in  the  working  out  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Kingdom  of  God  if  human  beings  could 
be  sufficiently  divine  to  make  no  mistakes  in  the  process 
of  sifting.  But  mistakes  would  be  made  as  mistakes 
have  been  made  whenever  such  efforts  have  been  tried. 
The  householder's  zeal  is  not  a  desire  to  propagate  tares, 
but  a  desire  to  garner  every  bit  of  pure  wheat  available. 
His  desire  is  not  to  heap  up  a  great  pile  and  burn  it  in 
revenge,  but  to  have  the  wheat  for  His  barn. 


XVI. 
SIXTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY. 

Matthew  17:2. 

"He  was  transfigured  before  them  and  his  face  did  shine  as  the 
sun,  and  his  garmjents  became  white  as  the  light." 

Sometime  ago  an  earnest  Bible  student,  with  com- 
paratively little  knowledge  of  the  church  year,  asked: 
"Why  has  this  most  important  story,  representing  a  crisis 
in  the  life  of  Christ,  been  assigned  as  the  gospel  lesson 
for  the  sixth  Sunday  after  Epiphany,  a  Sunday  we  so 
rarely  celebrate?"  The  young  man  who  put  this  ques- 
tion was  perfectly  sincere ;  to  him  the  story  of  the  Trans- 
figuration had  become  an  essential  link  in  the  life  of 
Christ.  He  would  have  this  story  told  over  and  over 
again,  year  after  year,  and  not  assigned  to  a  Sunday 
which  does  not  recur  with  successive  years,  but  only  in 
those  years  in  which  Easter  happens  to  fall  upon  a  very 
late  day.  We  have  recently  decided  the  contention  of 
the  young  man  to  be  correct  in  assigning  this  lesson  to 
the  last  Sunday  after  Epiphany,  whatever  that  Sunday 
may  be.  The  story  of  the  Transfiguration  belongs  to 
this  Sunday  if  you  would  observe  the  symmetry  of  the 
unfolding  Christ  life.  Those  who  are  responsible  for 
the  selection  of  our  gospel  lessons  knew  full  well  that 
this  crisis,  this  important  event,  this  overshadowing 
moment  in  the  life  of  Jesus  belongs  nowhere  else  than, 
just  here.  It  is  a  necessary  bridge,  marking  the  transi- 
tion from  an  important  part  of  the  life  of  Christ  upon 
earth  to  a  more  important  part,  from  what  has  been  well 
termed  the  constant  ascent  of  that  life  to  its  descent  into 

128 


SIXTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  129 

the  valley  of  humiliation,  suffering  and  death.  As  such 
a  connecting  link,  it  very  properly  assumes  its  place  at 
the  close  of  the  Epiphany  season,  a  season  during  which 
we  have  contemplated  the  setting  forth  of  the  glory  and 
the  power  of  Christ,  and  at  the  threshold  of  the  three 
Sundays  which  mark  the  introduction  to  the  Lenten  sea- 
son. The  three  evangelists,  whose  similar  treatment  of 
the  gospel  story  has  caused  them  to  be  grouped  together, 
all  of  them  refer  to  the  approximate  week  which  has 
elapsed  since  certain  events  occurred,  defined  by  them  as 
precursors  of  the  Transfiguration.  Unless  we  realize  the 
significance  of  these  events  we  shall  be  unprepared  for  the 
lesson  of  this  day. 

After  a  long,  long  period  of  preparation,  after  days 
and  weeks  and  months  and  years  of  almost  constant  in- 
tercourse, after  a  reiteration  of  fundamental  teachings  to 
various  audiences,  not  only  that  the  multitudes  might  be 
taught,  but  especially  also  that  the  disciples  might  ac- 
quire the  principles  of  the  kingdom  and  be  taught  to  com- 
municate them  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  after 
the  exercise  of  the  power  of  God  in  the  restoration  of 
many  in  the  presence  of  these  same  disciples,  realizing 
that  this  sort  of  intercourse,  this  sort  of  life,  this  sort  of 
testimony,  this  sort  of  fellowship  could  not  continue 
indefinitely,  but  that  He  must  be  about  His  Father's 
business  in  even  another  way,  Jesus,  having  thus  trained 
His  disciples,  having  thus  enkindled  and  fostered  their 
faith,  having  converted  them  from  uncouth,  simple- 
minded  fishermen  and  peasants  to  world  forces  and  world 
teachers,  is  ready  to  ask  them  a  question  which  He  knows 
they  are  now  prepared  to  answer  in  a  sense  in  which  they 
could  not  have  answered  it  before.  The  question  was 
not  to  be  asked  them  in  Galilee,  amid  surroundings  which 
might  have  reminded  them  of  their  former  life  and  their 
former  unbelief,  but  they  were  to  accompany  Him  to  the 
parts  of  Caesarea  Philippi  and  there,  in  an  environment 


130  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

which,  because  of  its  very  strangeness,  made  them  think 
of  life  more  seriously  than  they  thought  of  it  in  their 
home.  He  asked  them  the  supreme  question  with  which 
every  man  and  every  woman  must  at  some  time  or  other 
be  confronted:  "What  think  ye  of  Christ?"  for  the  first 
question  He  puts  to  them:  "Who  do  men  say  that  the 
Son  of  Man  is?"  is  but  introductory  to  the  second:  "What 
say  ye  that  I  am?"  You  remember  the  splendid  testi- 
mony of  Peter,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God,"  a  statement  which  calls  forth  from  the  lips 
of  Christ  the  tribute:  "Blessed  art  thou,  Bar-Jonah, 
for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but 
My  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  At  last  the  disciples  had 
come  far  enough  along  their  journey  to  know  that  they 
were  in  the  presence  of,  associating  with  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God.  They  had  at  last  established  them- 
selves, though  not  as  firmly  as  they  might  have,  upon 
the  rock  upon  which  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  stands, 
the  confession  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the  glory  of 
God  the  Father. 

The  confession  made  both  possible  and  necessary  the 
subsequent  intimation  on  the  part  of  Christ  of  His  suf- 
fering and  death.  They  must  learn  to  know  that  this 
Son  of  the  living  God  has  come  into  the  world  to  suffer 
and  to  die  and  to  rise  again  from  the  dead.  Is  it  not 
significant  that  in  this  very  narration,  in  the  paragraph 
following  the  confession  of  Peter,  there  is  a  clear  setting 
forth  of  one  of  the  many  moments  illustrative  of  the 
weakness  of  Peter?  Jesus,  having  told  them  of  his  suffer- 
ing, Peter  has  said:  "Be  it  far  from  Thee,  Lord;  this 
shall  never  be  unto  Thee,"  forcing  from  Jesus  the  un- 
equivocal condemnation:  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan; 
thou  art  a  stumbling  block  unto  me;  for  thou  mindest 
not  the  things  of  God,  but  the  things  of  men."  Satan 
did  not  even  then  relinquish  his  hold  upon  this  vacilat- 
ing  disciple  of  Christ,  but  continued  to  assail  him  until 


SIXTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  131 

he  thought  the  battle  was  won  in  Peter's  denial  of  Christ. 
The  two  incidents  to  which  we  have  alluded  somewhat  at 
length  must  be  understood  to  catch  the  real  significance 
of  the  Transfiguration,  marking  as  it  does  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  upward  march  and  the  beginning  of  the 
descent  into  the  valley  of  humiliation  and  death. 

May  it  not  be  well  to  sketch  the  story  briefly  lest  some 
of  us  may  have  forgotten  certain  of  its  details?  A 
period  of  about  a  week  having  elapsed  since  Peter's  con- 
fession and  the  announcement  of  His  program  by  Christ, 
before  these  two  important  moments  have  been  lost  sight 
of  by  the  disciples  in  the  routine  of  their  busy  lives  and 
long  enough  after  these  events  to  have  permitted  them 
to  be  pondered  carefully,  Jesus  takes  three  of  them,  the 
three  who,  as  you  know,  constitute  the  inner  circle,  up  into 
a  mountain.  We  are  not  told  what  mountain.  As  the 
mountain  upon  which  God  buried  Moses  has  never  re- 
vealed the  exact  spot  marking  the  grave  of  this  great 
leader  of  Israel,  as  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  are  brought 
to  a  sudden  close  ere  they  have  told  us  of  the  death  and 
place  of  burial  of  Paul,  so  Scripture  has  woven  a  halo 
of  mystery  about  certain  places  intimately  associated  with 
the  life  of  Christ  lest  we  worship  shrines  and  tombs  and 
mountains  instead  of  the  living  Christ.  The  mountain  to 
which  Christ  went  with  His  disciples  was  either  Tabor  or 
Hermon,  as  they  journeyed  some  distance  from  or  re- 
mained near  to  Caesarea  Philippi  during  the  important 
week  of  reflection  upon  the  testimony  to  and  by  Christ. 
Of  one  thing  we  are  sure,  the  purpose  of  the  ascent  is 
specified  by  Luke,  though  we  scarcely  need  the  sugges- 
tion. Luke  tells  us  that  Jesus  took  the  three  disciples 
and  went  up  into  the  mountain  "to  pray."  Thus  the 
mount  of  Transfiguration  becomes  intimately  associated 
with  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  into  which,  at  a  later 
time,  these  same  three  disciples  were  taken  for  the  same 
purpose  and  in  which  they  succumbed  to  the  same  weak- 


132  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

ness.  For  again  Luke  informs  us  that  "Peter  and  they 
that  were  with  him  were  heavy  with  sleep."  In  spite  of 
their  confession,  in  spite  of  Christ's  announcement,  they 
had  not  yet  learned,  nor  would  they  ever  quite  learn, 
to  pray  as  Jesus  prayed.  The  need,  as  it  appeared  to 
them,  as  they  climbed  the  mountainside  and  tarried  upon 
its  summit  was  not  a  spiritual,  but  a  purely  physical  need. 
The  need  of  the  Master  was  spiritual  rather  than  physical, 
even  though  the  intensity  of  His  life  rendered  it  more 
reasonable  that  He  should  need  rest  than  they.  The  two 
scenes  upon  the  mount  and  in  the  garden  are  strikingly 
similar  as  Jesus  stands  apart  from  the  disciples  and 
wrestles  with  God  in  prayer.  In  each  case  He  is  to  be 
confronted  with  ambassadors  from  on  high.  In  neither 
case  are  these  messengers  sent  to  remove  the  cup.  They 
accentuate  its  importance,  but  in  so  doing  they  strengthen 
Christ  for  His  superhuman  task.  God  does  not  endeavor 
to  remove  the  cup,  though  Satan  does.  The  disciples  do 
not  understand  Christ.  He  needs  the  fellowship  and  the 
testimony  of  those  who  do.  He  feels  the  solitariness 
of  His  position  as  He  has  never  felt  it  before,  and  the 
disciples  need  to  be  assured  in  some  other  way  than 
they  have  been  in  the  past  that  they  have  not  been  mis- 
taken in  their  confession.  Again  Luke  supplies  an  im- 
portant detail.  "As  He  was  praying,"  in  the  very  moment 
of  His  most  intense  intercourse  with  God  "the  fashion  of 
His  countenance  was  altered,  and  His  raiment  became 
white  and  dazzling."  Never  has  the  power  of  prayer  been 
more  manifest  than  in  the  transfiguration  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  Christ.  Prayer  always  transforms  if 
it  be  true  and  sincere.  Prayer  always  removes  us  from 
the  realm  of  sin  and  establishes  us  in  the  realm  of  grace 
and  of  light.  There  is  nothing  illogical  or  unnatural  in 
the  vision  which  the  drowsy  disciples  returning  to  full 
consciousness  saw.  "They  saw  His  glory."  And  as 
they  saw  Him  in  His  glory  they  saw  standing  by  His 


SIXTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  133 

side  two  representatives  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  "They 
saw  His  glory."  A  little  later  Stephen,  the  first  martyr, 
saw  Him  in  His  glory  as  he  saw  "the  heavens  opened, 
and  the  Son  of  man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God." 
A  little  later  Saul  saw  Him  in  His  glory  in  the  light  that 
shone  round  about  him  on  his  way  to  Damascus.  A  little 
later  others  saw  Him  in  His  glory,  the  last  and  greatest 
glory  manifest  to  the  apostles  being  the  glory  of  the  Self- 
revealer  made  known  to  John  upon  the  island  of  Patmos. 
And  even  yet  He  reveals  Himself  in  His  glory  to  His  true 
children.  Returning  from  this  bit  of  digression  inserted  to 
assure  us  of  our  share  in  every  manifestation  of  Christ's 
glory,  we  stand  with  the  disciples  as  they  look  upon  Jesus 
and  Moses  and  Elijah.  It  is  significant  that  in  neither 
of  these  two  witnesses  do  we  discern  Abraham,  the  father 
of  his  people,  concerning  whom  the  contemporaries  of 
Christ  have  been  so  constantly  speaking  in  connection 
with  Moses.  To  have  seen  Abraham  and  Moses,  this 
would  have  been  ideal,  according  to  the  judgment  of 
many  in  that  day,  this  would  have  been  in  strict  accord- 
ance with  the  height  of  the  ambition  of  Pharisees  and 
scribes.  But  no,  beside  Moses  the  lawgiver,  there  stands 
another,  mentioned  first  in  the  narrative  of  Mark,  though 
even  here  made  subservient  to  Moses  as  Mark  says :  "And 
there  appeared  unto  them  Elijah  with  Moses."  Elijah, 
the  prophet,  the  type  of  John  the  Baptist;  Moses,  the 
type  of  Christ,  the  fulfiller  of  the  law.  It  is  again  sig- 
nificant that  the  three  evangelists  take  care  to  specify  dis- 
tinctly that  these  men  were  seen  by  the  disciples  and  not 
only  by  Christ.  Again  Luke  supplies  an  important  detail 
in  telling  us  that  they  "Moses  and  Elijah  appeared  in 
glory,  and  spake  of  His  decease  which  He  was  about  to 
accomplish  at  Jerusalem."  Their  first  purpose  is  here 
clearly  indicated  as  not  being  to  testify  of  Him  to  the 
disciples,  but  rather  to  speak  to  Him  concerning  His 
Father's  will  and  to  strengthen  Him  for  the  impending 


134  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

ordeal.  He  could  not  speak  to  the  disciples  of  His  death, 
expecting  them  to  sympathize  intelligently  and  feelingly 
with  Him.  And  yet  how  very  much  He  needed  to  dis- 
cuss the  question  with  some  one.  The  crisis  must  be  met 
alone,  but  it  must  be  met  only  after  proper  preparation. 
It  must  be  met  only  after  consultation.  It  must  be  met 
only  after  we  have  had  an  opportunity  to  consult  with 
the  Father  and  whomsoever  the  Father  may  delegate  to 
come  to  us.  It  must  be  met  only  in  direct  submission  to 
the  Father's  will,  which,  after  all,  is  the  first  step  in  any 
true  exaltation. 

The  scene  of  the  Transfiguration  presents  one  of  the 
most  intensely  personal  and  private  moments  in  the  entire 
life  of  Christ.  He  was  justified  in  demanding  that  the 
disciples  should  tell  the  vision  to  no  man,  until  the  Son 
of  Man  be  risen  from  the  dead.  Men  would  have  mis- 
understood the  vision  as  they  misunderstood  Him.  Even 
the  three  who  were  with  Christ  misunderstood  its  sig- 
nificance, otherwise  Peter  could  never  have  said  what 
he  did.  Moses  and  Elijah  were  sent  with  no  direct  mes- 
sage for  the  three.  "They  were  talking  with  Jesus." 
That  is  the  testimony  of  the  evangelists.  There  are 
moments  of  vision  in  our  lives  which  are  not  to  be  con- 
verted into  seasons  of  speech.  In  being  permitted  to  see 
the  glory  of  Jesus  the  disciples  were  to  appropriate  the 
gift  and  the  vision  vouchsafed  to  them,  not  to  ask  for 
the  bestowal  of  something  else.  No  wonder  that  while 
Peter  was  saying  in  an  incoherent,  meaningless  way: 
"Lord,  it  is  good  for  us  to  be  here;  if  thou  wilt  I  will 
make  here  three  tabernacles;  one  for  Thee,  and  one  for 
Moses,  and  one  for  Elijah"  a  bright  cloud  over- 
shadowed Moses  and  Elijah,  causing  their  glory  to  be 
overshadowed  by  the  greater  glory  of  Him  who  was 
transfigured  as  a  voice  out  of  the  cloud  repeated  heaven's 
testimony  uttered  once  before  at  the  Baptism  of  Jesus: 
"This  is  My  Beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased; 


SIXTH   SUNDAY  AFTER  EPIPHANY  135 

hear  ye  Him."  It  was  not  proper  at  such  a  moment  even 
to  think  of  ministering  to  Moses  and  Elijah.  Had  Peter 
spoken  less  at  critical  moments  and  meditated  more  ere 
this  scene  upon  the  mount  occurred,  had  he  been  able  to 
bury  his  impulsive  nature  more  completely  in  the  person 
of  his  Master,  he  might  have  been  able,  with  John  and 
James,  to  have  rendered  unnecessary  the  appearance  of 
Moses  and  Elijah.  Of  course,  we  realize  that  their  ap- 
pearance was  representative.  They  represent  the  law 
and  the  prophets  which  find  their  fulfilment  in  Christ. 
As  the  cloud  overshadows  them,  it  overshadows  the  law 
and  the  prophets  of  the  old  covenant  and  brings  Christ 
into  proper  relief.  The  voice  which  testifies  from  its 
citadel  on  high  emphasizes  three  things:  First  of  all,  it 
testifies  of  the  love  of  God  as  directed  toward  His  Son. 
In  all  that  is  to  follow,  in  the  moments  of  suffering  and 
of  anguish,  in  the  moments  of  torture,  of  false  testi- 
monies, of  denials,  of  betrayals,  of  false  judgment,  and 
of  death,  there  is  to  be  manifest  not  only  a  divine  love  for 
the  world,  but  there  is  to  be  poured  out  upon  this  Son  a 
very  special  portion  of  this  love.  Sometimes,  however, 
we  love  those  whose  actions  have  made  it  impossible  to 
say  of  them  that  we  are  well  pleased.  The  first  statement 
refers  to  the  Father  and  centers  our  attention  upon  Him. 
The  second  statement  refers  to  the  Son  and  centers  atten- 
tion upon  Him.  The  pleasure  of  the  Father  rests  upon 
and  with  the  Son.  There  is  a  third  statement  intended 
for  Peter  and  for  us.  If  Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God  in  whom 
God  is  well  pleased,  He  certainly  comes  to  us  with  author- 
ity from  on  high.  The  nonsensical  advice  and  sugges- 
tions of  Peter  must  be  eliminated  from  such  an  environ- 
ment. Up  to  this  very  moment  the  disciples  have  fol- 
lowed Jesus  because  of  what  He  said  to  them,  because 
of  their  own  weakness  rather  than  because  of  their 
strength;  from  this  moment  on,  they  are  to  follow 
Him,  not  because  of  anything  He  says   or  does,  but 


136  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

because  of  what  He  is.  The  testimony  of  the  voice 
from  heaven  at  the  baptism  of  Jesus  was  primarily 
intended  for  Jesus.  "And  lo,  the  heavens  were  opened 
unto  Him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending  as 
a  dove,  and  coming  upon  him ;  and  lo,  a  voice  out  of  the 
heavens  saying,  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am 
well  pleased."  On  the  mount  of  Transfiguration  the 
voice  is  directed  to  the  disciples  and  there  is  added  the 
significant,  authoritative  command:     "Hear  ye  Him." 

The  transfiguration  of  life  means  the  unfolding,  the 
unraveling,  the  exposing  of  the  real  self.  You  cannot 
forever  hide  behind  a  calm  exterior  the  lineaments  of 
either  your  Lord  or  Satan.  At  some  time  or  other  you 
mus(t  stand  forth  as  you  really  are.  At  some  time 
or  other  your  real  self  will  stand  before  the  world  as 
did  the  real  self  of  Jesus  before  the  disciples.  Shall  your 
life  be  transfigured  or  disfigured?  Shall  it  be  holy, 
true  and  pure  because  of  your  willingness  to  listen  to 
the  voice  from  heaven,  or  shall  it  be  unholy,  untrue  and 
impure  because  of  your  willingness  to  remain  at  the  foot 
of  the  mount  in  the  embrace  and  power  of  him  who  is 
the  adversary  of  Christ?  It  does  make  a  difference  whom 
we  serve,  and  this  difference  is  traceable  in  the  counten- 
ance and  the  life  of  the  individual. 


XVI  I. 

SEPTUAGESIMA. 

Matthew  20:  16. 

"So  the  last   shall  be  first,  and  the  first  last." 

We  dare  not  ignore  the  very  great  importance  of 
this  day  as  the  first  Sunday  in  the  Easter  cycle,  which 
consists  of  the  three  Sundays  of  preparation,  the  passion 
season,  Holy  Week,  Easter  day,  and  the  Sundays  after 
Easter.  We  dare  not  ignore  the  importance  of  this  day 
because  it  forms  the  outer  gate  which  leads  eventually 
into  the  Holy  of  Holies.  We  may  speak  of  this  day  as 
the  occasion  of  our  entrance  upon  a  series  of  meditations 
and  studies,  a  beginning  of  the  contemplation  of  deeds 
and  of  one  great  deed,  constituting  the  very  heart  and 
core  of  our  faith.  We  may  speak  of  this  day  as  the 
first  moment  of  the  eleventh  hour  of  the  day,  the  most 
intense  of  all  hours.  It  is  exceedingly  important,  there- 
fore, that  our  initial  meditation  shall  convince  us  of  the 
seriousness  of  the  moment,  the  seriousness  of  the  task, 
the  earnestness  of  our  Lord  and  the  necessary  attitude 
of  self.  Perhaps  no  parable  of  all  the  parables  uttered  by 
Jesus  more  clearly  illustrates  the  lessons  of  this  day  than 
the  story  of  the  laborers  in  the  vineyard,  narrated  only 
by  Matthew.  We  are  reminded  in  this  parable  of  the 
importance  of  gathering  in  the  rich  harvest  of  the  vine- 
yard promptly  and  we  are  further  reminded  of  the  grace 
and  goodness  of  the  householder  in  his  dealings  with  the 
laborers.  May  it  not  be  well  for  us  to  suggest  a  thought 
which  is  prevalent  in  the  parable  as  a  thought  about  which 
the  lessons  it  teaches  may  be  grouped  ?    We  are  reminded 

137 


138  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

as  we  read  this  story  that  there  is  an  intense  hour  during 
the  day,  an  intense  season  during  the  year.  The  intense 
hour  may  not  necessarily  be  an  hour  of  sixty  precious 
minutes,  but  there  is  a  fraction  of  each  day  that  means 
more  to  us  than  any  other  part  of  the  day,  a  period  dur- 
ing which  we  must  be  absolutely  undisturbed  in  order  that 
we  may  center  our  entire  attention  upon  the  task  in  hand, 
a  period  during  which  we  cannot  play,  no  matter  how 
dear  the  friends  are  who  beckon  us  and  urge  us  to  join 
them.  As  a  rule,  this  intense  hour  of  the  day,  this  in- 
tense period  belongs,  or  should  belong,  to  the  morning, 
when  the  mind  is  most  active  and  there  is  a  ready  re- 
sponse to  the  dictates  of  every  faculty.  Occasionally  the 
eleventh  hour,  the  last  hour  of  the  day,  is  the  intense 
hour,  during  which  the  account  must  be  closed,  during 
which  the  remainder  of  the  harvest  must  be  gathered. 
In  a  life  that  is  ideal,  there  should  be  no  eleventh  hour. 
There  should  be  purpose,  desire,  intensity,  poise,  activity 
all  the  day  long.  Unfortunately  our  lives  are  not  ideal. 
Our  religious  life  is  not  ideal  and  there  is  an  intense 
eleventh  hour  in  it  just  as  there  is  in  our  daily  business 
or  vocational  pursuits.  The  most  intense  period  of  the 
Christian  year  is  undoubtedly  the  season  upon  which  we 
are  just  entering.  The  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus 
are  undoubtedly  objects  of  most  vital  importance  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Christian.  His  thought  during  this 
entire  period  is  to  be  intense  as  his  life  is  to  be  intense. 
He  is  to  be  a  man  of  prayer  because  his  Savior  was  a 
man  of  prayer;  he  is  to  agonize  and  suffer  and  triumph 
with  an  agonizing,  suffering,  victorious  Christ.  Jesus 
presents  the  importance  of  the  task  which  confronts  Hi'^ 
Father  and  Himself,  in  the  language  of  the  parable  of 
the  vineyard,  as  He  presented  the  task  confronting  tlie 
disciples  in  the  language  of  the  parable  of  the  sower. 
The  world  is  to  be  likened  unto  a  vineyard.  The  work 
of  the  vinevard  is  cumulative.     The  need  for  workers  is 


SEPTUAGESIMIA  139 

not  equally  great  at  all  seasons.  There  are  times  when, 
the  vines  having  been  planted  after  the  vineyard  has 
been  properly  prepared,  it  is  less  necessary  to  have  a  large 
force  of  workers  than  during  times  of  preparation,  of 
planting,  of  storms,  of  blight,  of  frost,  of  drought,  of 
ingathering.  There  is  an  eleventh  hour  in  every  vine- 
yard, when  the  work  of  the  vineyard  must  be  done 
quickly  and  effectively,  even  at  large  cost,  if  the  labors  to 
that  very  moment  shall  not  be  sacrificed.  Sometimes  the 
eleventh  hour  and  the  first  hour  synchronize.  Sometimes 
the  intensive  hour  comes  at  noon.  Sometimes  the 
eleventh  hour  is  the  direct  resultant  of  the  first.  Our 
first  parents,  in  misapplying  the  first  hour  of  their  day, 
hastened  the  approach  of  the  eleventh.  Their  vineyard 
might  have  been  a  garden,  a  paradise.  They  chose  a 
thorny,  rocky  tract  instead.  Their  task  might  have  been 
that  of  supervision  and  enjoyment.  They  chose  that  of 
the  laborers  called  at  the  very  first  hour.  From  the 
moment  of  the  fall  of  the  first  man,  the  vineyard  assumed 
a  very  different  aspect,  hence  work  in  the  vineyard  be- 
came a  very  difficult  thing.  Instead  of  being  synony- 
mous with  pleasure,  it  got  to  be  a  hard,  grinding  pursuit. 
Thorns  and  thistles,  frost  and  heat,  drought  and  wet  sea- 
sons, rocky  and  hard-trodden  soil,  storms  and  hurricanes, 
birds  and  creeping  things,  wild  beasts  and  thieving  men, 
evil  wishers  and  malicious  devastators,  all  these  infested 
the  vineyard  as  tools  of  Satan  and  largely  neutralized  the 
efforts  of  man  to  regain  paradise.  With  these  obstacles 
to  contend  with  by  day  and  by  night,  the  householder, 
depending  solely  upon  human  agencies,  found  his  efforts 
thwarted  at  every  turn,  found  his  vineyard  a  bit  more 
impoverished  after  every  season  of  new  endeavor,  a  bit 
nearer  its  kinship  with  the  desert  and  the  wilderness. 
The  expression  "the  fulness  of  time"  applied  to  the  vine- 
yard did  not  imply  that  the  work  was  finished,  that  the 
fruit  had  ripened,  that  the  hour  had  come  for  the  vintage ; 


140  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

it  implied,  on  the  other  hand,  that  if  the  vineyard  was 
to  be  saved  it  had  become  high  time  to  save  it,  that  all 
efforts  along  reasonable,  ordinary  lines  having  failed  to 
bring  results,  a  superhuman  effort  must  be  instituted,  the 
entire  resources  of  heaven  and  earth  must  be  engaged 
in  this  great  deed  which  is  to  restore  the  vineyard  as  a 
garden,  no  longer  a  wilderness,  a  kingdom  of  heaven 
not  a  kingdom  of  earth,  dominated  by  low  desires  and 
unholy  purposes.  The  intense  hour  in  the  vineyard  was 
the  fulness  of  time,  not  only  in  which  Jesus  was  born, 
but  especially  also  the  fulness  of  time  in  which  he  suf- 
fered and  died  and  arose  again.  The  entire  world,  a 
vineyard,  the  vineyard  overgrown,  overrun ;  the  laborers, 
so  many  of  them  inefficient,  unsympathetic,  hostile, 
mutinous,  murderous  in  their  purposes,  slaying  every 
laborer  whose  inclinations  and  intentions  were  honest, 
this  was  the  outlook  presented  to  the  eyes  of  Jesus  as 
He  set  forth  upon  His  mission.  The  world  from  Adam 
to  Christ  had  gradually  retrograded.  The  world  from 
the  day  of  Christ's  appearance  among  men  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Christian  church  has  gradually  advanced. 
The  vineyard  is  more  fruitful  today  than  ever,  because 
the  crisis  has  been  passed,  the  most  intense  hour  in  its 
history  has  been  lived  and  the  importance  of  that  hour 
has  been  realized  by  some.  Has  it  been  fully  realized  by 
us?  This  brings  us  very  naturally  to  a  consideration  of 
the  intense  hour  from  the  standpoint  of  the  laborers. 

In  the  parable  we  are  told  of  the  growing  needs  of  the 
vineyard  as  the  work  progresses.  We  are  informed  that 
laborers  were  engaged  at  almost  all  hours  of  the  day,  and 
are  we  not  to  infer  from  every  class,  for  the  work  de- 
mands men  and  women  of  every  conceivable  talent.  The 
first  retinue  of  men  for  the  vineyard  was  called  to  service 
"early  in  the  morning."  In  the  first  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  there  was  no  eight-hour  day.  The  parable  refers 
to  a  day  of  twelve  hours,  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  or  from 


SEPTUAGESIMA  141 

six  o'clock  in  the  morning  until  six  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
The  householder,  having  returned  from  his  first  journey 
to  the  market-place,  having  supervised  the  getting  under 
way  of  those  whom  he  had  hired,  discovered  the  inability 
of  this  body  of  men  to  cope  with  the  situation.  He  did 
not  do  as  we  might  have  done.  He  did  not  discharge  the 
men  already  employed  and  seek  others.  His  work  was 
too  pressing  for  that  and  he  too  reasonable.  The  work 
must  be  done,  and  it  must  be  done  in  a  given  time.  So 
he  set  out  again,  went  into  the  market-place  and  found 
others  who  were  sent  to  his  vineyard.  The  same  routine 
is  repeated  several  times  as  he  finds  it  necessary  to  work 
more  intensively.  Having  gone  out  at  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning  for  the  second  time,  he  finds  it  necessary  to  go 
out  at  noon  and  again  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 
There  is  but  little  over  one  hour  left  as  he  endeavors  to 
study  conditions  to  ascertain  the  possibility  of  concluding 
the  work  of  ingathering  that  day.  He  finds  again  that  the 
work  will  not  and  cannot  be  concluded  within  the  limit 
of  time  allowed  unless  additional  laborers  be  secured. 
He  sets  forth  once  more  upon  his  errand  of  employment 
and  again  visits  the  market-place,  the  public  employment 
bureau  of  oriental  towns  as  it  is  to  this  day  in  some  of 
our  communities.  It  will  not  do,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  in 
view  of  the  work  that  is  to  be  done,  to  employ  anyone  who 
is  unwilling  to  work,  anyone  who  will  at  all  shirk  the 
responsibilities  imposed.  Hence  the  question  asked  of  the 
men  whom  he  is  about  to  employ  is  very  searching,  not 
calculated  to  arouse  sympathy  in  the  hearts  of  men  un- 
willing to  work,  but  intended  to  prove  the  mettle  of  those 
who  have  already  shown  their  willingness  to  be  of  service 
by  remaining  in  an  opportune  place  to  the  very  last  hour, 
hoping  against  hope.  The  householder  asks  these  men: 
"Why  stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle  ?"  He  has  seen  them 
before.  They  have  not  particularly  appealed  to  him  as 
able  workers.    He  has  passed  them  by  in  his  earlier  jour- 


142  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

neyings.  He  would  assure  himself  now,  ere  he  engages 
them  of  their  willingness  to  work.  He  knows  their  answer 
to  be  true  and  true  men  are  to  be  trusted.  They  say  to 
him:  "Because  no  man  hath  hired  us."  They  are  anxious 
and  willing  to  be  servants.  They  are  ready  to  attempt  to 
prove,  at  the  very  last  hour  of  the  day,  the  seriousness  of 
their  purpose.  They  are  engaged.  They  go.  They  work. 
They  receive  their  reward. 

The  men  of  our  age  have  spoken  and  written  much  of 
efficiency.  They  have  endeavored  to  study  men  at  their 
work.  They  have  discovered  the  applicability  of  certain 
laws.  They  have  found  that  men  serve  more  cheerfully, 
more  effectively  under  certain  conditions  than  under 
other  conditions.  They  have  discovered  that  the  man 
who  works  less  extensively  is  apt  to  work  more  inten- 
sively. It  would  undoubtedly  be  unfair  to  many  men 
who  have  "borne  the  burden  of  the  day  and  the  scorching 
heat"  to  say  they  have  all  of  them  proved  to  be  unfaith- 
ful, but  it  is  true,  nevertheless,  that  eleventh-hour  men 
are  needed  to  inspire,  enthuse  and  urge  on  the  men  who 
have  thus  far  held  the  position  of  supremacy.  These 
eleventh-hour  people  are  like  the  runners  in  a  race  who 
are  a  bit  slow  in  getting  started,  but  who,  when  they  have 
gotten  under  way,  test  and  defeat  the  endurance  and  the 
ability  of  runners  ahead  of  them  and  pass  them  just  be- 
fore the  goal  is  reached.  In  the  group  of  chapters  of  the 
gospel  according  to  Matthew,  of  which  this  is  one,  Jesus 
has  much  to  say  of  the  unfaithfulness  of  the  leaders  of 
Israel,  who  were  called  by  God  to  be  servants  in  His 
vineyard,  but  who,  because  of  their  long,  uninterrupted 
service,  forgot  that  they  were  simply  servants  and 
stewards,  acting  under  the  instructions  of  their  house- 
holder, fulfilling  His  wishes,  but  gradually  assumed  posi- 
tions of  unwarranted  dictatorship,  lording  it  over  men 
who  were  called  at  other  hours  of  the  day,  establishing 
traditions  of   the  vineyard   which   they   endeavored   to 


SEPTUAGESIMA  143 

interpret  as  laws  in  force  when  they  entered  the  vine- 
yard, making  it  almost  impossible  for  men  to  endure  the 
burdens  they  placed  upon  them.  If  the  scribes  and  phari- 
sees  are  the  laborers  of  the  vineyard  who  have  toiled 
all  the  day,  or  if  the  priests  be  looked  upon  as  they  who 
toiled  all  day  and  the  scribes  and  pharisees  as  those  who 
have  entered  the  vineyard  at  an  early  hour  and  dictated 
its  policies,  you  can  readily  see  why  there  may  have  been 
this  expression  of  satisfaction  because  of  the  results 
achieved  by  the  eleventh-hour  men,  and  this  equally 
strong  expression  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  men  who 
have  misapplied  their  day.  Or  if  you  choose  to  look 
upon  Jesus  as  the  householder  engaged  in  the  cultivation 
of  His  Father's  vineyard,  assembling  His  disciples  about 
Him,  you  cannot  help  realizing  the  force  of  the  parable, 
as  He  speaks  to  them  of  the  faithlessness  of  the  men  who 
have  loitered  in  the  vineyard,  of  their  carelessness,  and 
of  their  recklessness,  of  their  intrigues  and  of  their  mur- 
derous inclinations,  and  then  urges  upon  them  and  upon 
us,  as  those  called  in  the  eleventh  hour,  to  be  faithful  to 
our  trust,  to  work  while  it  is  day  and  to  help  right  now 
to  consummate  the  ingathering  of  the  vintage. 

A  study  of  history  is  largely  a  study  of  crises,  and 
crises  are  intense  hours,  or  inversely,  intense  hours  are 
crises,  during  which  large  results  are  wrought.  Ought 
we  not  be  exceedingly  grateful  that  God's  love  and  mercy 
are  to  be  absolutely  unrestrained  during  these  crises  and 
that  He  is  Himself  to  fix  the  reward  for  service  faith- 
fully performed? 

Dear  friend,  we  have  been  speaking  of  scribes  and 
pharisees  and  priests.  We  have  been  speaking  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  first  century.  Shall  we  not,  ere  we  turn  from 
the  consideration  of  this  important  text,  speak  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  twentieth  century?  Who  are  the  scribes  and 
pharisees  and  priests  of  the  twentieth  century?  May 
we  not  perchance  be  included  in  such  a  summarization,  we 


144  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

who,  as  pastors  and  people,  have  assumed  prerogatives 
which  smatter  of  tradition  rather  than  of  the  Truth? 
Have  we  at  all  times  shown  the  consideration  for  our 
eleventh-hour  co-workers  our  Master  would  have  us 
show?  Do  we  realize  the  supreme  significance  of  the 
Savior's  redemption  as  the  suffering  and  death  and  resur- 
rection of  Him  who  came  to  call  not  the  righteous,  but 
sinners,  not  those  who  feel  no  need  for  an  intensive 
Savior  because  they  have  mistakenly  believed  themselves 
to  be  the  children  of  a  Savior  of  Whom  they  have  heard 
so  constantly  they  have  never  felt  the  need  of  a  vital, 
incisive,  concrete  subjection  to  the  Savior's  power? 


xyiii. 

SEXAGESIMA. 

Luke  8 : 5. 
"The  sower  went  forth  to  sow  his  seed." 

Both  Matthew  and  Luke  place  the  parable  of  the  sower 
and  all  other  parables  uttered  by  the  Master  after  the 
sermon  on  the  mount.  In  the  sermon  on  the  mount  our 
Lord  employed  direct  phraseology,  words  and  sentences 
which  needed  no  poetic  instinct  to  interpret  them.  He 
was  dealing  with  a  re-formulation  of  the  law  for  people 
of  legalistic  training,  hence  his  language  was  direct,  force- 
ful and  explicit. 

In  the  story  before  us  a  great  multitude  has  again 
assembled,  "they  of  every  city  resorted  unto  Him." 
Jesus  was  still  growing  in  popularity  with  the  masses  and 
the  Pharisees  had  not  yet  begun  their  open  persecution. 
As  the  people  assembled  this  time  the  scene  is  changed. 
The  background  for  the  preaching  is  not  to  be  the  mount. 
It  is  to  be  the  lowland  in  the  region  of  the  sea  of  Galilee 
and  the  sea  itself.  To  speak  to  a  concourse  of  people 
such  as  this,  with  the  more  eager  pressing  so  closely  about 
Him  that  others  might  not  hear  and  the  speaker  Himself 
be  hampered,  would  have  been  impossible  or,  at  least, 
impracticable.  Taking  in  the  situation  at  a  glance,  Christ 
ordered  His  disciples  to  push  one  of  the  boats  from  the 
shore.  As  we  know,  some  of  the  disciples  were  fisher- 
men and  had  their  own  boats.  Sitting  in  the  boat,  He 
began  to  speak  to  them.  To  attract  their  attention  from 
the  very  outset  He  uttered  the  word  "hearken"  recorded 
by  Mark.    They  are  not  to  listen  to  a  statement  of  moral 

145 


146  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

law,  but  to  a  testimony  concerning  the  workings  of  spirit- 
ual forces.  The  picture  of  nature  round  about  them  is 
to  offer  a  suitable  text  for  the  pronouncement  of  a  great 
truth  as  Jesus  speaks  to  them  in  truly  eastern  fashion,  in 
language  of  poetic  import.  They  are  to  be  taught  that 
we  can  find  traces  of  God's  goodness  and  human  de- 
pravity round  about  us. 

We  speak  much  of  nature  study  and  its  educative  value 
and  then  we  laud  the  educators  of  the  twentieth  century 
for  having  taught  us  this  lesson,  entirely  forgetful  of 
the  fact  that  Jesus  was  a  student  of  nature,  a  keen  ob- 
server of  its  forces,  its  mysteries,  its  workings,  and  a 
teacher  of  its  profound  lessons.  His  knowledge  of  the 
animal  world  leads  Him  .to  draw  lessons  from  an  obser- 
vation of  the  habits  of  the  worm,  the  sparrow,  the  ser- 
pent, the  camel,  the  dog  and  the  swine.  He  is  a  student 
of  nature,  represented  in  the  rocks  and  streams.  He 
speaks  of  the  lightning  sent  down  from  heaven.  He 
speaks  repeatedly  of  soil  and  seed,  of  flowers  and  of  trees, 
and  applies  the  lessons  of  nature  to  the  needs  of  man. 
Jesus  was  intensely  practical.  He  always  uttered  the 
words  most  needed.  On  the  occasion  before  us,  for 
instance.  He  knew  that  His  hearers  were  all  more  or  less 
acquainted  with  the  tilling  of  the  soil.  It  was  the  most 
ancient  of  occupations,  practised  because  of  necessity  by 
our  first  parents  when  they  were  driven  from  the  garden 
of  Eden,  which  they  had  proved  themselves  unworthy  to 
possess. 

The  three  parables  recorded  by  Mark  referring  to  the 
seed,  of  which  this  day's  gospel  lesson  is  the  first,  belong 
together.  In  the  first,  Christ  lays  the  foundations,  the 
difircult  foundations  for  the  unregenerate  man,  upon 
which  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  reared.  In  the  second,  He 
points  out,  in  the  parable  of  the  seed  which  is  planted 
and  grows  tip  while  the  sower  sleeps,  the  natural  and 
continual  growth  of  this  kingdom,  and  in  the  third,  the 


SEXAGESIMA  147 

parable  of  the  mustard  seed,  which  though  it  is  the  small- 
est of  all  seeds,  grows  up  into  the  largest  tree,  we  see  the 
splendor  and  consummation  of  this  kingdom.  Our  gospel 
lesson,  therefore,  is  a  fundamental  and  primary  study 
concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God.  We  shall  consider  the 
power  of  the  Word  of  God  as  it  is  here  represented  by 
Christ  under  the  figure  of  the  sower  and  the  seed. 

There  are  certain  foregone  conclusions  in  the  study  of 
this  parable.  It  is  understood  that  the  sower,  if  he  be 
true  to  his  vocation,  shall  secure  the  best  possible  seed 
and  that  he  shall  be  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  he 
has  succeeded  in  this  preliminary  undertaking.  It  is  fur- 
ther understood  that  he  does  not  discriminate  in  the  use 
of  seeds  by  securing  seeds_of  various  quality  for  what  he 
believes  to  be  locations  of  various  f ruitfulness  or  soils  of 
various  richness.  In  fact,  as  the  seed  which  the  sower 
employs  is  of  one  quality  only,  there  is  no  distinction 
drawn  in  this  parable  between  good  and  poor  soil.  The 
soil  is  uniformly  good,  the  adverse  influences  specified 
not  being  due  to  its  composition,  but  to  the  addition  of 
certain  hostile  forces.  Applying  the  lesson  as  far  as  we 
have  gone  we  shall  speak  of  the  seed  as  the  Word  of  God. 
As  the  Lord  is  the  sower,  so  are  those  whom  He  has 
chosen.  As  the  true  sower  can  use  but  one  seed,  they 
who  are  sowers  in  His  kingdom  are  constrained  to  use  this 
same  seed  which  He  provides.  As  the  Lord  Himself 
must  first  prepare  the  soil  for  a  proper  reception  of  the 
seed  and  must  wait  for  the  "fulness  of  time"  ere  that 
seed  can  be  planted,  we  must  follow  His  example.  The 
hearts  of  men  must  be  prepared  for  a  reception  of  the 
grace  of  God  manifest  in  His  Word.  What  a  strong 
argument  this  is  for  the  liturgical  service  if  it  be  engaged 
in  devoutly  and  whole-heartedly,  a  preparation  of  the  soil 
for  the  reception  of  the  seed  which  is  sown  when  God's 
Word  is  preached  in  its  purity  and  its  real  life-giving 
power  is  manifest. 


148  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Four  illustrations  of  the  effect  produced  by  the  seed 
are  presented  in  order  that  we  may  realize  its  action  under 
the  most  diverse  circumstances.  In  the  first  place  we 
are  told  of  the  seed  by  the  wayside  "and  as  he  sowed, 
some  fell  by  the  wayside."  The  sower  was  anxious  to 
utilize  every  available  bit  of  soil.  Not  any  of  it  was 
to  remain  inoperative.  Every  concealed  corner  and  edge 
was  to  receive  the  benefit  of  a  doubt.  Naturally  some  of 
the  seed  would  fall  upon  the  wayside,  the  path,  trodden 
by  men,  at  the  expense  of  the  soil.  The  result  was  nat- 
ural: "It  was  trodden  down  and  the  fowls  of  the  air 
devoured  it."  There  are  individuals  who  have  so  hard- 
ened their  hearts,  they  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Word  of  God  save  by  way  of  criticism.  These  people 
study  their  Bible  hard  and  long,  but  simply  to  lead  others 
astray.  They  are  the  mockers  and  revilers  of  Chris- 
tianity. Eventually  these  people  and  their  theories  are 
devoured  by  the  vultures  which  are  ever  hovering  near, 
ready  to  feed  upon  lost  lives.  Fortunately,  if  we  may 
use  the  term  at  all  in  this  connection,  Vv^e  are  dealing  with 
a  footpath,  not  a  highway;  a  narrow  confine,  not  a 
boundless  waste ;  a  restricted  area,  not  a  source  of  gen- 
eral infection.  In  answer  to  men  and  women  who  come 
in  this  spirit,  it  is  ever  important  to  pray  that  the  Spirit 
of  God  may  dictate  the  promptings  of  our  hearts  and 
minds.  We  shall  ever  bear  in  mind  John's  advice  to  try 
the  spirits.  We  shall  ever  require  of  such  heartless  critics 
more  than  a  mere  hypothesis,  more  than  a  conjecture, 
more  than  a  theory.  We  shall  ever  ask  whether  the  solu- 
tion which  ends  in  the  utter  annihilation  of  our  religious 
life  has  any  validity.  God  never  hardens  the  heart  of 
anyone  who  does  not  first  harden  his  heart  against  God. 
Pharaoh  hardened  his  heart  seven  times  before  God 
hardened  it  for  him. 

Some  of  the  seed  fell  upon  the  rock.  A  soil  entirely 
free  of  stones  is  not  nearly  so  valuable,  from  the  agri- 


SEXAGESIMA  I49 

cultural  standpoint,  as  that  which  conceals  a  proper  ratio 
of  them.  The  elimination  is  to  be  that  of  the  rock,  not 
that  of  its  disintegrated  product.  However  careful  the 
sower  may  be  there  will  be  rocks  in  his  field.  What  hap- 
pens because  of  their  presence?  "And  as  soon  as  it  was 
sprung  up,  it  withered  away,  because  it  lacked  moisture." 
The  heat  of  the  sun  is  needed,  but  it  must  be  tempered 
by  the  moisture  in  the  soil.  Wherever  it  is  not  so  tem- 
pered the  resultant  is  that  indicated  in  the  words  of 
Scripture  just  quoted.  Applying  this  truth,  we  find  there 
is  a  second  class  of  persons,  who  attend  the  service  of 
the  House  of  God  without  any  apparent  conviction  that 
what  they  are  doing  is  an  essential  element  in  their  spirit- 
ual sustenance,  who  read  the  Word  of  God  with  no 
sense  of  satisfaction  after  they  have  read  it,  nor  with 
any  feeling  of  necessity  as  of  hunger  as  they  approach  it. 
The  trait  of  this  class  is  superficiality.  Nothing  is  done 
carefully.  Nothing  is  done  thoroughly.  Nothing  is  done 
as  well  as  it  might  be  done.  Make  up  your  minds  that 
they  who  are  superficial  in  matters  of  religion  are  super- 
ficial in  the  things  that  pertain  to  this  life  and  they  who 
are  superficial  in  temporal  matters  are  equally  superficial 
in  spiritual  matters.  There  may  be  great  religiosity  on 
the  part  of  people  who  do  not  take  their  every-day  life 
seriously  or  who  are  unsuccessful  in  it,  but  there  is  a 
vast  difference  between  religiosity,  the  show  of  religion, 
and  true  religion.  On  the  other  hand,  there  may  be 
worldly  success  on  the  part  of  some  who  are  flippant  in 
matters  of  religion,  but  worldly  success  is  not  by  any 
means  always  a  resultant  of  ability.  Superficial  people 
are  not,  as  a  rule,  phlegmatic  people.  They  are  nervous, 
active,  energetic.  They  do  accomplish  some  things,  but 
the  tragedy  of  it  all  is  that  their  energy  is  so  often  lost 
energy,  their  labor  is  vain. 

We  arrive  at  the  third  stage.    As  our  sower  continued 
his  task  some  of  his  seed  fell  among  the  thorns.     May 


150  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

I  remind  you  again  that  in  every  instance  the  soil  is  of 
the  same  fertility.  We  are  reaching  a  better  state  of 
affairs.  In  the  first  instance,  the  seed  was  sown  by  the 
wayside,  where  there  was  no  possibility  that  it  would 
take  root.  In  the  second  instance,  there  was  sufficient 
loose  soil  to  permit  it  at  least  to  take  root.  And  now 
we  have  arrived  at  a  state  in  which  there  is  an  abundance 
of  soil.  What,  we  ask,  is  the  detrimental  factor?  And 
we  are  told  the  thorns.  It  may  be  that  through  the  care- 
lessness of  a  husbandman  foreign  seeds  have  been  in- 
jected; it  may  be  that  through  the  carelessness  of  the 
plowman  certain  roots  have  not  been  destroyed.  The 
thorns  sprang  up  with  the  seed  and  choked  it.  The  soil 
for  both  weeds  and  grain  was  the  same.  Both  grew  up 
together.  The  process  once  begun,  it  was  necessary  to 
"let  both  grow  until  the  harvest."  Of  course,  there  was 
danger  in  the  process.  Of  course,  the  thorns  obtained 
a  mastery  of  the  situation.  Environment  does  influence 
our  lives.  If  our  environment  is  bad,  the  struggle  will 
be  hard  and  serious.  And  yet,  though  the  figure  is  im- 
perfect, do  we  care  to  shut  off  every  good  influence, 
every  good  opportunity  from  those  of  evil  inclinations? 
May  there  not  be  a  purpose  in  thus  merging  the  two, 
now  that  man  has  voluntarily  chosen  the  thorns  rather 
than  the  wheat,  to  protect  him  against  himself?  Are  we 
not  beginning  to  assert  this  principle  in  our  punitive 
and  corrective  system? 

Is  not  the  intention  of  the  parole  the  desire  to  have 
evildoers  associate  with  persons  who  are  morally  strong, 
not  that  the  morally  strong  may  be  contaminated,  but 
that  the  evildoers  may  be  converted'  from  their  evil  ways? 
Environment  does  play  an  important  role  in  our  lives. 
We  are  not  negating  the  rule  of  Christ  in  applying  the 
corollary  rather  than  the  axiom.  We  are  simply  assert- 
ing the  gradual  acceptance  of  the  principles  of  Christ  in 
our  daily  program.    The  great  leaders  of  the  world  have 


SEXAGESIMA  151 

been  the  men  and  women  who  have  been  strong  enough 
to  influence  their  environment  rather  than  to  be  influ- 
enced by  it.  Knowing  there  are  thorns  in  this  world,  it 
is  important  to  prepare  our  children  and  our  friends  to 
withstand  them.  Let  them  learn  from  us  and  not  from 
others  the  deadliness  of  sin,  the  final  destruction  of  the 
good  grain  choked  by  the  thorns.  But  having  taught  our 
children  this  lesson,  may  we  teach  them  one  thing  more, 
that  goodness  and  nobility  and  truth  are  not  to  be  sought 
because  the  world  admires  noble,  pure  believing  men 
and  women,  but  because  God  would  have  us  thus.  Three 
classifications  have  been  needed  to  describe  the  hindrances 
to  the  growth  and  spread  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  His- 
tory substantiates  this  summary.  The  church  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  not  yet  a  triumphant  church.  The  sower  has 
had  and  is  having  his  disappointments.  He  is  at  last 
to  be  rewarded  for  his  industry,  for  the  "other  fell  on 
good  ground,  and  sprang  up  and  bore  fruit  an  hundred- 
fold." Imagine  the  joy  of  the  sower  as  he  views  his 
hundredfold  crop.  Yet  this  joy  does  not  compare  with 
the  happiness  of  Him  who  recovers  one  one-hundredth 
of  a  flock.  The  harvest  is  not  everywhere  and  always 
the  same.  It  is  most  abundant  and  most  sure  where  the 
growth  has  been  slow  and  undisturbed,  where  no  whirl- 
winds and  cyclones  are  permitted  to  interfere  with  its 
development. 

May  God  grant  that  we  may  receive  His  Word  into 
truly  receptive  hearts  and  permit  no  birds,  thorns  or 
stones,  no  hostile  critics,  no  cares  of  this  world,  no  super- 
ficial pleasures  or  diversions  to  rob  us  of  this  blessed 
treasure ! 


XIX. 
QUINQUAGESIMA. 

Luke  i8:  31,  43. 

"And  he  took  unto  him  the  twelve,  and  said  unto  them,  Behold 
we  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  etc.  .  .  . 

"And  immediately  he  received  his  sight  and  followed  him,  glori- 
fying God." 

The  gospel  lesson  for  this  day  narrates  the  third  pre- 
diction concerning  Christ's  passion  and  records  an  inci- 
dent that  occurred  while  Jesus  and  His  disciples  were 
en  route  to  Jerusalem.  The  first  prediction  of  His  pas- 
sion followed  the  splendid  tribute  of  Peter:  "Thou  art 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  In  this  first  pre- 
diction we  miss  the  detailed  statement  of  the  "many 
things"  which  are  enumerated  in  the  third  prophecy. 
The  disciples  needed  a  general  setting  forth  of  the  sub- 
ject before  they  were  ready  for  a  detailed  announce- 
ment. In  the  second  prediction  (Matthew  17:  21)  Jesus 
adds  that  "the  Son  of  man  shall  be  delivered  up  into 
the  hands  of  men"  without  enumerating  the  men.  In 
the  prediction  which  forms  part  of  the  gospel  lesson  for 
this  day  there  is  a  distinct  advance  upon  the  prophecies 
to  which  we  have  alluded.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that 
in  each  of  these  predictions  Christ's  death  and  resurrec- 
tion are  allied  and  mentioned  as  part  of  one  and  the  same 
deed. 

As  Jesus  invited  His  disciples  to  go  with  Him  up  to 
Jerusalem,  so  on  this  day  the  Christian  Church  invites 
you  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  during  the  Lenten  season, 
which  begins  next  Wednesday,  and  lest  your  state  of 
mind  be  that  of  the  disciples,   "they  understood  none 

152 


QUINQUAGESIMA  153 

of  these  things,"  He  would  demonstrate  the  purpose  of 
His  coming  into  the  world  by  proving  His  readiness  and 
ability  to  be  a  light  to  them  that  sit  in  darkness  as  He 
speaks  to  the  blind  man  by  the  wayside.  Of  course, 
leadership  implies  discipleship,  and  if  the  twelve  who 
have  been  specially  chosen  are  not  ready,  perhaps  some 
one  else  here  and  there  is;  hence  we  have  the  injection  of 
the  story  of  the  healing  of  the  blind  man  at  this  point. 
In  following  certain  of  the  details  of  the  story  we  are 
indebted  to  Mark  for  a  very  graphic  description.  Mark 
indicates  that  Jesus  and  His  disciples  are  on  the  march 
as  the  prophetic  words  are  uttered.  He  indicates  the 
order  of  the  procession.  Jesus  is  already  alone  as  He 
leads  the  way,  while  the  disciples  are  following  at  a  re- 
spectful distance  lost  in  wonder.  They,  in  turn,  are 
followed  by  others,  whose  fear  is  real  rather  than  ap- 
parent. Why  this  amazement  and  this  fear?  Was  it 
because  Jesus  had  chosen  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem  even 
though  others  had  advised  Him  not  to  do  so  and  the 
disciples  and  the  multitude  were  beginning  to  be  a  bit 
apprehensive,  or  was  it  because  of  the  emotion  which  was 
taking  possession  of  Christ  as  He  walked  alone  to  His 
death,  conscious  of  the  significance  of  that  walk?  The 
way  of  the  cross  has  begun  before  the  wooden  instrument 
of  execution  is  placed  upon  His  shoulders.  The  first 
real  anguish  of  soul  has  overtaken  Him  long  before  He 
has  arrived  at  Gethsemane.  The  world  tragedy  does  not 
mean  the  sacrifice  of  hundreds  and  thousands  and  millions 
of  men  while  the  commander  stands  back  of  them  and 
directs  the  charge,  escaping  unscathed  and  riding 
victoriously  at  the  head  of  the  survivors  into  the  con- 
quered territory  of  the  enemy  as  He  dictates  the  terms 
of  peace.  The  world  tragedy  reveals  the  Commander 
alone  as  He  goes  up  to  Jerusalem,  alone  as  He  is  deliv- 
ered up  unto  the  Gentiles,  alone  as  He  is  mocked,  alone 
as  He  is  shamefully  treated,  alone  as  He  is  spit  upon. 


154  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

alone  as  He  is  scourged,  alone  as  He  is  killed,  and  alone 
as  He  rises  from  the  dead. 

In  speaking  of  the  leadership  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  shall 
think  briefly  of  the  postulates  of  leadership,  the  discour- 
agements of  leadership  and  the  encouragements  of  lead- 
ership, and  we  shall  close  with  a  word  about  the  need 
of  Christ's  leadership. 

The  postulates  of  leadership  are  vision,  purpose  and 
action.  When  one  or  the  other  of  these  essential  char- 
acteristics are  lacking  there  is  no  true  leadership.  There 
may,  for  instance,  be  purpose  and  action,  as  there  un- 
doubtedly was  in  the  crusades  and  in  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, but  the  leadership  of  those  at  the  head  of  these 
movements  lacked  vision  in  its  true  perspective,  hence 
these  movements  failed.  There  may  be  vision  and  pur- 
pose without  action.  Many  philosophers  and  seers  of  an- 
cient and  modern  times  have  had  both.  They  have  seen 
republics  take  form  in  their  thought,  their  purpose  has 
been  the  ultimate  realization  of  this  thought,  but  they 
have  spent  life  as  dreamers,  not  as  doers.  There  may  be 
vision  and  action  without  purpose.  There  are  in  our 
times  men  who  have  both  vision  and  a  semblance  of 
action,  but  whose  purpose  is  hazy  and  whose  action  is 
consequently  ill-advised  and  harmful  rather  than  helpful. 
Many  of  us  possess  one  or  two  of  the  characteristics  of 
leadership,  but  we  fail  in  a  proper  co-ordination  of  the 
three. 

During  this  month  we  are  celebrating  the  birthdays  of 
two  Americans  who  have  been  pre-eminent  leaders  of 
men  because  they  possessed  the  characteristics  which  we 
have  enumerated  as  those  inherent  in  leadership.  Both 
these  men  possessed  a  large  degree  of  vision  and  neither 
of  them  obtained  this  virtue  in  college  halls,  but  through 
personal  study  and  meditation  and  contact  with  ever- 
crowing  problems.  To  both  these  leaders  vision  and 
purpose  were  supplementary  terms.    Vision  created  pur- 


QUINQUAGESIMA  155 

pose.  Purpose  reinforced  and  extended  vision.  The 
purpose  of  both  men  can  be  expressed  in  concrete  terms 
and  implied  and  brought  with  it  consequent  action.  The 
leadership  of  both  men  was  essential  to  the  welfare  of 
the  country,  and  we  firmly  believe  was  part  of  God's 
providential  plan  for  the  establishment  and  preservation 
of  our  land.  Shall  we  deny  to  the  man  who  is  their 
successor  in  office  and  who  has  been  called  upon  to  be  a 
leader  of  men  in  a  pre-eminent  sense,  one  of  whom  vision 
and  purpose  and  action  are  demanded,  the  position  which 
he  must  occupy  in  our  regard  and  in  our  willingness  to 
sub-ordinate  self  to  the  achievement  of  the  purposes  for 
which  this  Republic  was  founded? 

We  are  to  turn  from  this  digression  to  the  study  of 
the  uniqueness  of  the  one  leader  of  men,  before  whom  all 
leaders  must  bow  their  knees,  not  the  leader  of  a  single 
nation  of  men  nor  of  a  kingdom  of  this  world,  but  of 
all  men.  Ere  we  enter  upon  another  Lenten  season  we  are 
to  consider  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ  as  our  leader  and 
we  are  to  base  our  conclusions  upon  the  test  already  out- 
lined, the  resultant  of  which  is  sufficiently  indicated  in 
our  text.  The  vision  of  Jesus  Christ  is  not  synonymous 
with  university  training.  The  clinic  in  which  Jesus 
studied  was  not  a  clinic  which  acknowledged  the  suprem- 
acy of  mind,  but  it  was  a  clinic  acknowledging  the 
supremacy  of  the  soul  and  the  spirit.  Nor  is  the  vision 
of  Christ  the  resultant  of  extensive  travels.  Jesus  con- 
fined His  footsteps  to  a  very  limited  area,  never  repeat- 
ing His  childhood  experience  by  going  down  to  Egypt. 
Constant  travel  may  dim  the  true  perspective  and  keep 
us  from  the  vision  we  might  otherwise  enjoy.  The  vision 
of  Jesus  was  not  the  vision  of  a  mfen,  but  of  God.  The 
vision  of  Jesus  was  kept  upon  a  high  plane,  even  in 
moments  of  deepest  humiliation,  because  of  His  constant 
communion  with  the  Father.  His  vision  was  intensified 
day  by  day  in  His  intercourse  with  men.     Note   His 


IS6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

words :  "All  the  things  that  are  written  by  the  prophets 
shall  be  accomplished  unto  the  Son  of  man.  For  He 
shall  be  delivered  up  unto  the  Gentiles,  and  shall  be 
mocked,  and  shamefully  entreated,  and  spit  upon;  and 
they  shall  scourge  and  kill  Him;  and  the  third  day  He 
shall  rise  again."  When  we  speak  of  the  vision  of 
Jesus  we  refer  to  His  understanding  and  wisdom,  in 
which  Scripture  tells  us  He  constantly  increased — and 
isn't  it  true  that  the  growth  of  wisdom  in  the  human 
Jesus  was  due  to  His  persistent  fellowship  with  the 
Father?  Is  it  not  true  that  He  entered  the  synagogue 
and  Temple  because  He  was  really  anxious  to  do  so,  and 
not  only  because  it  was  customary?  Is  it  not  true  that, 
whereas  He  was  always  ready  to  give.  He  Himself 
needed  to  receive  in  large  measure  properly  to  equip 
Himself  for  His  mission?  And  is  it  not  true  that  He 
could  not  have  been  as  interested  in  these  services  nor  as 
helpful  to  those  with  whom  He  associated  on  such  occa- 
sions if  He  had  not  come  to  these  services  with  a  mind 
and  heart  and  soul  stored  with  the  precious  truths  of 
God's  Holy  Word?  When  He  met  Satan  at  the  begin- 
ning of  His  ministry  He  was  ready  for  Satan's  use  of 
Scripture,  for  He,  too,  had  studied  it  and  knew  how  to 
quote  it  more  effectively  than  His  antagonist.  The  point 
I  am  trying  to  emphasize  is  that  the  vision  of  Jesus  was 
synonymous  with  His  knowledge  of  the  world  tragedy 
and  the  hope  of  redemption  contained  in  God's  Holy 
Word.  The  vision  is  vouchsafed  to  you  and  me  only  as 
we  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Savior  in  keeping  close 
to  the  Father  and  listening  to  His  voice  as  contained  in 
His  Word.  We  are  not  concerned  with  visions,  but  with 
vision.  We  are  not  concerned  with  diverse  interests,  but 
with  one  supreme  interest,  and  this  very  absorption  in  a 
single  interest  lends  vision. 

The  words  "behold  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem"  indicate 
purpose  as  well  as  vision.    As  He  understood  the  great 


QUINQUAGESIMA  157 

world  problem,  He  formulated  long  before  leaving  the 
Father's  throne,  the  purpose  which  was  the  outcome  of 
His  vision.  Why  is  it  not  feasible  to  rush  straight  from 
vision  to  action?  Why  must  we  interpose  purpose  to 
delay  the  process?  To  have  before  one  a  panorama  of 
history  is  not  necessarily  to  be  an  historian.  To  know 
the  principal  events  and  their  dates  throughout  history  is 
not  to  know  history.  The  historian  is  he  whose  study 
of  history  has  taught  him  to  recognize  certain  funda- 
mental causes  and  effects  which  have  been  at  work 
throughout  the  ages.  He  who  has  caught  the  plan  and 
meaning  of  it  all,  he  is  the  true  historian  as  he  seeks  to 
have  others  understand  that  this  plan  may  be  applied  to 
current  events  and  will  produce  recurrent  effects.  The 
historian  becomes  the  philosopher  of  history.  You  are 
something  more  than  a  store-house.  You  are  something 
more  than  a  machine.  You  are  something  more  than  a 
hand.  Your  life  is  circumscribed  by  your  vision  and 
your  vision  circumscribes  your  purpose.  That  purpose 
will  rise  to  ever  higher  altitudes  as  it  has  caught  a  bit 
of  the  vision  of  Christ  and  seeks  to  hold  fast  to  that 
vision.  Back  of  the  particular  work  we  are  doing  there 
is  a  plan  and  a  purpose  which,  if  we  are  wise,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  ascertain  and  further.  What  was  the  real 
purpose  of  Christ,  the  resultant  of  His  vision?  Was  it 
to  sit  at  the  table  of  rich  men  in  order  that  He  might 
enjoy  their  bounty?  Was  it  to  associate  with  them? 
Was  it  to  associate  with  the  poor  because  they  were  poor  ? 
Was  it  to  wander  as  a  hermit  out  into  the  wilderness  or 
up  the  mount,  for  the  purpose  of  selfish  or  ascetic  retire- 
ment? Was  it  to  be  the  leader  of  an  itinerant  band  of 
fishermen  plying  their  trade  while  He  talked  to  them  or 
to  a  group  of  idlers  ?  Was  it  to  be  a  fanatic  whose  lust 
for  martyrdom  led  Him  to  the  very  city  which  was  cry- 
ing out  for  His  blood?  Was  it  to  establish  within  the 
circle  in  which  He  moved  a  program  of  social  service? 


158  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Not  one  of  these  reasons  has  the  slightest  semblance  of 
truth  in  it.  The  sole  purpose  of  Jesus  Christ  in  coming 
into  the  world  was  to  fulfil  the  program  of  His  Father  for 
the  salvation  of  souls.  That  He  might  accomplish  this 
purpose  He  sat  at  the  table  of  rich  men.  That  He  might 
accomplish  this  purpose  He  associated  with  the  poor. 
That  He  might  accomplish  this  purpose  He  went  into  the 
desert,  and  climbed  the  mount.  That  He  might  accom- 
plish this  purpose  He  drew  unto  Himself  a  band  of 
disciples  from  among  lowly  fishermen  who  would  not 
continually  be  reasoning  why,  but  who,  in  a  critical 
moment  would  dare  both  do  and  die.  The  life  of  Christ, 
viewed  from  this  standpoint  of  leadership,  cannot  be 
understood  unless  we  remember  that  He  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners.  He  knew  that  He  would  find 
them  in  every  class  of  society,  hence  He  did  not  asso- 
ciate exclusively  with  any  one  class.  It  is  absolutely 
wrong  to  interpret  His  purpose,  as  is  so  often  done  in 
our  day,  by  saying  that  He  came  into  the  world  to 
ameliorate  the  outward  lot  of  society.  The  purpose  so 
clearly  set  forth  in  our  text  was  ever  before  Him  as  He 
sojourned  in  His  Father's  house;  as  He  accepted  the 
challenge  of  Satan;  as  He  acknowledged  that  His  hour 
had  not  yet  come  in  answer  to  premature  desires  and 
longings.  As  has  been  stated  over  and  over  again,  there 
was  but  one  purpose,  the  resultant  of  one  vision  and 
this  could  lead  to  but  one  action. 

Though  the  Savior  refers  specifically  to  physical  action 
as  He  says:  "Behold  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem,"  there  is 
no  doubt  that  we  ought  today  consider  not  so  much  His 
outward  activity,  but  rather  the  action  of  His  mind 
and  heart  at  the  very  moment  when  He  uttered  these 
words.  The  action  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  resultant  of 
vision  and  purpose,  must  not  be  construed  as  physical 
action  only,  but  as  spiritual  action  of  a  most  intense 
nature.     In  fact,  the  word  passion  indicating  suffering 


QUINQUAGESIMA  159 

and  the  passive  capacity  of  the  individual  in  suffering, 
does  not  at  all  adequately  express  the  real  activity  of  the 
soul  of  the  sufferer.  The  spiritual  activity  of  Jesus  can 
only  be  apprehended,  it  cannot  be  fathomed.  Ever  alert, 
ever  ready  for  emergencies,  ever  anxious  to  serve  by  pre- 
cept or  by  deed.  He  was  undoubtedly,  and  still  continues 
to  be,  the  one  and  only  true  leader  of  humanity  in  its 
heavenward  climb. 

Acknowledging  the  tests  of  leadership  as  thus  indi- 
cated, and  as  manifest  in  the  Christ,  the  episode  follow- 
ing the  words  of  Jesus  and  included  in  the  gospel  lesson 
is  a  natural  sequence — the  blind  man  sitting  by  the  way- 
side begging  is  the  symbol  and  type  of  every  man,  woman 
and  child  sitting  in  the  darkness  of  this  world  needing 
the  blessing  which  only  the  true  Light  of  the  world  can 
offer. 


XX. 

ASH  WEDNESDAY. 

Matthew  6 :  i6,  19. 

"Moreover  when  ye  fast,  be  not,  as  the  hypocrites,  of  a  sad 
countenance :  for  they  disfigure  their  faces,  that  they  may  be  seen 
of  men  to  fast. 

"Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  the  earth,  where  moth 
and  rust  consume,  and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal  but 
etc." 

In  no  respect  has  the  intelligent  appreciation  of  the 
church  year  developed  more  rapidly  than  in  the  growing 
observation  of  the  season  of  Lent  by  Christians  as  a 
time  particularly  fitted  for  a  consideration  of  the  great 
deed  which  is  the  foundation  stone  of  our  Christian  faith. 
The  Lenten  season  has  been  subject  to  several  lines  of 
growth  or  development.  In  the  first  place,  the  celebra- 
tion was  that  of  a  single  day,  soon  after  of  two  and 
three  days,  a  week  and  at  last  the  cycle  seemed  to  be 
fixed  when  the  period  of  forty  days  so  significant  in 
biblical  history  had  been  decided  upon.  It  may  be  that 
the  extension  of  the  period  did  not  at  first  bode  an  exten- 
sion of  interest  in  the  Savior's  passion.  We  can  readily 
see  that  the  Christians  of  the  earliest  days,  whose  Chris- 
tianity was  so  real  and  vital  they  lived  and  moved  and  had 
their  being  in  their  Savior  and  their  God  needed  not  to  be 
told  during  a  protracted  period  of  their  Master's  suf- 
ferings because  they  had  directly  experienced  these  suf- 
ferings and  were  experiencing  them  in  their  own  lives 
daily.  As  we  move  farther  from  the  historic  Christ,  as 
Christians  are  no  longer  persecuted,  as  they  go  about 
their  duties  no  longer  able  to  converse  with  the  disciples 
of  Jesus,  no  longer  able  to  listen  to  those  who  have  been 

160 


ASH  WEDNESDAY  i6i 

disciples  of  the  disciples,  as  the  intensiveness  of  the  sit- 
uation becomes  a  bit  less  pronounced  they  seek  to  coun- 
teract any  adverse  influences  by  prolonging  the  season 
for  meditation  and  prayer  during  which  they  are  to 
re-live  the  scenes  of  their  Lord's  sufferings.  From  very 
early  times  the  Christian  church  has  set  apart  the  forty 
days  preceding  Easter,  excluding  Sundays,  which  are 
looked  upon  as  feast  days,  as  a  season  of  fasting.  Of 
course,  this  term  needs  to  be  defined,  and  this  day's 
gospel  offers  an  adequate  definition. 

We  have  touched  upon  the  gradual  lengthening  of 
the  season;  it  may  be  well  for  us  to  bear  in  mind  that 
the  general  observance  of  the  season  on  the  part  of  those 
who  do  not  belong  to  churches  which  have  always  had  a 
well-defined  conception  of  the  liturgy  and  the  church  year 
has  been  introduced  during  the  time  of  many  now  living. 
There  is  in  this  growing  perception  of  the  fundamental 
importance  of  the  atonement  a  clearer  and  more  remark- 
able sign  of  an  approach  on  the  part  of  the  Christian 
church  to  the  sort  of  unity  Christ  would  have  than  in 
many  other  signs  of  the  times.  There  must  be  an  axis 
about  which  the  Christian  life  shall  move,  and  this  axis 
is,  of  course,  Christ,  but  how  often  the  name  is  used 
without  any  appreciation  of  its  significance.  There  is 
the  cry  of  "Lord,  Lord"  to  one  who  knows  them  not 
because  they  have  never  put  forth  any  real  effort  to 
know  Him,  although  He  has  offered  them  every  oppor- 
tunity to  do  so.  Just  as  there  must  be  an  axis  about 
which  our  Christian  life  must  move  there  is  an  axis 
about  which  the  church  year  must  move  if  we  are  to 
look  upon  it  as  something  more  than  a  merely  desirable 
mechanical  arrangement  for  the  upbuilding  of  life.  This 
axis  about  which  the  church  year  moves  is  the  lenten 
season  properly  conceived  and  properly  celebrated,  for 
the  birth  of  Christ  came  about  in  order  that  He  might 
suffer  and  die  for  us  and  the  resurrection  would  have 


i62  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

been  impossible  had  there  been  no  previous  death.  We 
must,  therefore,  not  be  unmindful  of  the  exceeding 
great  importance  of  this  season,  and  of  the  clear  under- 
standing of  its  meaning  ere  we  enter  upon  it,  that  we 
may  derive  its  blessings. 

Of  course,  the  message  of  the  season  is  a  proclamation 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  And  yet  we  cannot  understand 
the  real  majesty  and  excellency  of  the  gospel  unless  we 
have  had  an  opportunity  to  compare  it  with  the  law. 
And  that  we  may  the  better  appreciate  the  great  chasm 
which  exists  between  the  law  and  the  gospel,  Jesus 
Christ,  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount,  interprets  the  law 
as  it  finds  its  fulfilment  in  Him  contrasted  with  the  law 
as  it  is  interpreted  by  His  contemporaries  who  are  the 
teachers  of  Israel.  It  is  important  that  we  should  give 
undivided  attention  to  two  Lenten  commandments  which 
He  utters  and'  orders.  They  bear  such  an  important 
relationship  to  this  season  we  cannot  possibly  celebrate 
it  until  we  have  mastered  them. 

The  first  of  these  two  commandments  concerns  fast- 
ing. How  wonderfully  Luther,  in  a  later  century,  caught 
the  spirit  of  the  Master  when,  in  his  catechism,  in  the 
interpretation  of  the  commandments,  he  invariably 
touches  upon  their  negative  and  positive  teaching.  In 
the  teaching  concerning  fasting  as  we  have  it  from  the 
Master's  lips  there  is  this  distinct  two-fold  statement. 
Jesus  says:  "When  ye  fast,  be  not  as  the  hypocrites, 
of  a  sad  countenance ;  for  they  disfigure  their  faces,  that 
they  be  seen  of  men  to  fast.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  they 
have  received  their  reward.  But  thou,  when  thou  fastest, 
anoint  thy  head,  and  wash  thy  face,  that  thou  be  not 
seen  of  men  to  fast,  but  of  thy  Father  who  is  in  secret ; 
and  thy  Father,  who  seeth  in  secret,  shall  recompense 
thee." 

Fasting  in  the  days  of  Jesus  had  assumed  very  great 
proportions.    It  was  looked  upon  as  a  mark  of  religious 


ASH  WEDNESDAY  163 

life  and  enthusiasm.  Twice  in  the  week  some  of  these 
Pharisees  fasted  as  they  celebrated  the  ascent  to  and  the 
descent  from  the  mount  by  Moses  or  as  they  engaged  in 
certain  self-imposed  or  school-imposed  fasts.  The  fast 
in  Jesus'  day  had  lost  its  significance  very  largely  be- 
cause it  had  emerged  from  the  closet  and  the  secret 
place  and  had  assumed  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a 
public  act.  In  its  emergence  it  had  sacrificed  its  very 
being.  To  the  leaders  of  Israel  the  apparent  fast,  the 
fast  seen  of  men,  the  disheveled  appearance,  the  self- 
mortification,  the  going  up  to  the  temple,  the  foremost 
place  in  the  temple,  these  were  the  important  and  essen- 
tial elements  in  the  act.  And  is  it  not  true  that  to  many 
of  the  twentieth  century  these  same  public  demonstra- 
tions of  will-power  in  matters  of  worldly  abstinence  and 
religious  observance  have  come  to  be  looked  upon  as 
integral  parts  of  the  fast.  The  fast  to  many  of  today 
means  the  ability  to  do  without  sweets,  to  do  without 
the  theater,  to  deny  oneself  a  pleasure  which  is  no  longer 
a  pleasure  because  we  have  indulged  in  it  all  winter  and 
yet  because  of  our  well-known  fondness  for  this  pleas- 
ure and  our  post-season  restraint  we  are  admired  of  men, 
or  it  may  be  we  have  resolved  to  attend  service  very 
regularly  during  this  period,  even  though  we  do  not 
attend  service  very  regularly  during  any  other  part  of 
the  year,  or,  having  attended  service  regularly  during  the 
year,  we  feel  we  must  increase  our  devotion  and  our 
activity.  In  all  these  acts  of  restraint  or  of  indulgence 
there  is  a  public  manifestation  of  our  inner  life,  or  our 
supposedly  inner  life.  Of  course,  no  one  will  and  no 
one  can  disparage  the  deeds  of  the  man  or  woman  wed- 
ded to  Christ.  No  one  will  for  a  moment  think  of  cen- 
suring the  Lenten  restraint  of  those  who  are  ever  able 
to  assert  a  constant  control  over  their  bodies  or  of  mis- 
judging the  Lenten  enthusiasm  of  those  whose  knowl- 
edge of  and  love  for  Christ  assert  themselves  in  in- 


i6'4  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

creased  attendance  upon  the  services  of  the  church.  But 
Jesus  does  criticise  very  sharply  a  fasting  w^hich  is  en- 
gaged in  "to  be  seen  of  men."  He  says:  "Be  not  as 
the  hypocrites"  and  you  will,  of  course,  naturally  be  led 
to  think  of  the  early  meaning  of  this  term,  the  actors, 
be  not  as  the  actors,  as  those  whose  sincerity  is  question- 
able, as  those  who  assume  a  part,  and  become  so  well 
trained  in  the  assumption  of  that  part  that  unless  you 
are  an  expert  in  character  study  or  an  adept  in  reading 
the  hearts  of  men,  and,  of  course,  this  can  be  predicated 
of  no  one  save  God,  you  will  be  deceived  time  and  again. 
It  is  important  that  actors  should  be  able  to  control  their 
facial  expressions  for  the  countenance  betrays  truly  or 
falsely  the  intents  and  purposes  of  the  heart.  There  are 
hypocrites,  actors,  who  believe  fasting  to  assert  itself 
in  a  "sad  countenance."  To  bring  about  this  result  they 
disfigure  their  faces,  that  they  may  be  seen  of  men  to 
fast.  Jesus  would  say  this  is  not  fasting.  This  is  not 
a  meritorious  deed.  This  is  an  act  which,  played  upon 
the  stage  of  life,  receives  its  reward  in  the  playing  and 
its  condemnation  from  Him  who  can  distinguish  be- 
tween the  mask  and  the  countenance.  Having  thus  in- 
terpreted for  us  the  hollowness  and  the  lack  of  reality 
in  much  that  we  term  fasting,  Jesus  proceeds  to  show  us 
what  He  means  by  fasting.  "When  thou  fastest,  anoint 
thy  head,  and  wash  thy  face,  that  thou  be  not  seen  of 
men  to  fast,  but  of  thy  Father  who  is  in  secret ;  and  thy 
Father,  who  seeth  in  secret,  shall  recompense  thee." 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  anointing  of  the  head 
and  the  washing  of  the  face  alluded  to  are  the  acts  which 
preceded  the  feast,  and  there  is  in  this  thought  an  inti- 
mation of  the  close  relationship  between  the  feast  and 
the  fast  in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  However,  it  seems 
better  to  interpret  the  anointing  of  the  head  and  the 
washing  of  the  face  as  the  insistence  upon  the  daily  ablu- 
tion in  which  the  true  Israelite  as  over  against  the  false 


ASH  WEDNESDAY  165 

Israelite  engaged.  The  fast  is  to  be  a  service.  As  such 
it  is  not  to  interfere  with  the  laws  of  hygiene.  Cleanli- 
ness and  godliness  are  ever  to  be  associated.  The  un- 
kempt appearance  of  the  hair,  the  abstinence  from  cus- 
toms which  common  sense  and  decency  prescribe,  these 
are  not  acceptable  tokens  of  religion  as  so  many  holy 
men  of  the  east  seemed  to  think  and  continue  to  think 
to  this  day.  Our  Christianity  has  taught  the  value  and 
the  importance  of  restraint.  They  who  mourn  are  not 
to  mourn,  as  they  that  have  no  hope.  They  that  fast  are 
not  to  accept  the  false  standards  which  paganism  would 
have  them  continue.  They  that  are  steeped  in  the 
thoughts  of  Christ  are  to  move  among  men  as  they  who 
are  interested  in  men.  The  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  for 
men,  not  for  personal  satisfaction.  Fasting  and  sacri- 
fice, these  two  factors  are  to  be  associated.  Sacrifice 
is  most  complete  and  most  real  when  entirely  forgetful 
of  self  it  seeks  to  do  the  thing  that  must  be  done  at 
whatever  the  cost  may  be.  Thus  the  contemplation  of 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ  for  us  naturally  calls  forth  on 
our  part  the  most  intense  sympathy,  which  means  the 
most  intense  engagement  in  His  suffering  and  the  most 
earnest,  heartfelt  prayer  that  we  may  be  found  worthy 
to  share  His  agony.  In  no  way  can  the  spirit  of  fasting 
manifest  itself  more  clearly  than  in  our  readiness  to  be 
cross-bearers,  light-bearers,  bringers  of  salvation  through 
Christ  to  the  men  and  women  for  whom  He  died.  Hence 
our  season  must  be  spent  in  prayer.  It  must  be  spent 
in  prayer  that  we  ourselves  may  appropriate  the  full 
meaning  of  His  sacrifice  and  then  naturally  in  prayer  for 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  prayer  of  the  most  in- 
tense nature  because  of  our  growing  realization  of  the 
importance  of  prayer.  Prayer  such  as  this  has,  as  we 
have  seen  in  the  consideration  of  the  transfiguration  nar- 
rative a  few  weeks  ago,  an  effect  upon  the  whole  person 
which  is  mirrored  in  the  countenance.     Hence  the  coun- 


i66  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

tenance  of  the  Christian  during  this  season  will  not  be 
sad,  nor  disfigured,  but  earnest,  intense,  spiritual  be- 
cause He  has  communed  with  God  and  has  had  a  vision 
of  the  needs  of  the  Kingdom  and  the  grace  of  God  in 
making  him  a  sharer  in  the  administration  of  that  king- 
dom. 

There  is  a  second  commandment  concerning  the  proper 
celebration  of  this  season.  "Lay  not  up  for  yourselves 
treasures  upon  the  earth,  where  moth  and  rust  consume, 
and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal;  but  lay  up 
for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth 
nor  rust  doth  consume,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  nor  steal;  for  where  thy  treasure  is,  there  will 
thy  heart  be  also."  This  is  an  insistence  upon  the  prin- 
ciple that  no  man  can  serve  two  masters,  that  we  cannot 
serve  God  and  mammon.  Of  course,  you  will  assert 
that  this  is  one  of  the  maxims  of  the  kingdom  which  is 
not  to  be  interpreted  of  any  one  season,  but  rather  of 
them  all,  and  yet  is  it  not  true  that  in  order  to  enforce 
a  maxim  it  is  necessary  to  begin  its  enforcement  at  some 
time,  at  some  specific  time?  Now,  there  is  no  time  in 
all  the  year  when  the  glaring  contrast  between  the  serv- 
ice of  mammon  and  that  of  God  stands  out  more  promi- 
nently. Jesus,  despised,  rejected  of  men,  with  no  place 
where  to  lay  His  head,  with  nothing  He  could  call  His 
own  is  the  giver  of  life  to  all  the  world  because  He  was 
able  to  withstand  the  temptation  in  which  a  temporal 
kingdom  was  offered  Him  in  exchange  for  the  eternal. 
Moth  and  rust,  the  destroyers  of  oriental  possessions,  are 
emblems  of  the  various  agencies  constantly  at  work  un- 
dermining the  activity  of  men,  making  it  impossible  for 
men  ever  to  feel  certain  in  the  possession  of  earthly  ac- 
quirements. Thus  the  most  material  gain  of  tomorrow 
is  the  golden  fleece  which  eludes  the  grasp  of  him  who 
wishes  to  continue  to  possess  it.  Thieves,  digging 
through,  breaking  through,  vaulting  over,  reaching  us 


ASH  WEDNESDAY  167 

in  many  ways,  take  the  things  we  have  thought  to  be  the 
objects  of  our  highest  pursuit  from  us  and  we  stand  with 
nothing  to  show  for  a  life  that  has  been  almost  spent. 
You  see  the  force  of  the  negation  and  of  the  command. 
Do  not,  and  begin  at  this  time,  when  your  thoughts  nat- 
urally center  in  Christ,  do  not  lay  up  treasures  upon 
earth.  Do  not  set  your  hearts  upon  the  trifles  and  vani- 
ties of  a  day.  Do  lay  up  for  yourselves  imperishable 
treasures  in  heaven  and  thus  co-ordinate  the  whole  life, 
thus  bring  it  to  that  perfection  which  demginds  the  unity 
of  heart  and  treasure.  A  very  practical  test  of  our 
willingness  to  obey  this  command  has  from  the  earliest 
times  been  insisted  upon,  the  desire  to  manifest  our  fast 
in  the  communication  of  our  earthly  gifts  to  the  causes 
of  the  kingdom.  Our  willingness  to  part  from  things 
we  cherish  here  and  now  is  an  indication  of  our  willing- 
ness to  accept  the  treasures  of  heaven. 

Our  celebration  of  Lent  so  often  amounts  to  very  little 
because  we  outline  too  large  and  too  imposing  a  program 
of  outward  observances  which  push  the  significance  of 
the  season  into  the  background.  May  we  not  urge  the 
observance  of  two  things,  emphasized  in  these  two  com- 
mandments, a  fast  which  asserts  itself  in  prayer  and  an 
activity  which  asserts  itself  in  giving. 


XXI. 
FIRST  SUNDAY  IN  LENT. 

Matthew  4:1. 

"Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be 
tem|)ted  of  the  devil." 

Ill  order  that  the  plan  and  purpose  of  God  may  be 
carried  out,  there  must  be  perfect  submission  to  His  plan, 
a  perfect  agreement  with  His  purpose,  consequently  im- 
qualified,  absolute  obedience.  Paul  had  fully  mastered  this 
thought  when  he  wrote  of  Jesus  in  addressing  the  Philip- 
pians,  "Have  this  mind  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ 
Jesus,  who,  existing  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  not 
the  being  on  an  equality  with  God  a  thing  to  be  grasped 
but  emptied  Himself  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  being 
made  in  the  likeness  of  men ;  and  being  found  in  fashion 
as  a  man,  he  humbled  Himself,  becoming  obedient  unto 
death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross."  It  was  this  perfect 
obedience  which  Jesus  had  in  mind  as  an  essential  ful- 
filment of  the  Father's  will  when,  of  His  own  volition. 
He  went  to  the  shores  of  the  Jordan  to  seek  out  John 
to  be  baptized  of  Him.  It  was  to  test  this  obedience 
that,  after  His  baptism,  before  entering  upon  the  most 
active  ministry  in  which  anyone  ever  engaged.  He  was 
led  of  the  Spirit  not  to  Galilee  with  its  many  personal 
associations,  nor  even  to  the  Holy  City  and  the  Temple, 
but  into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil. 

As  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  active  life  our  first 
parent  is  tempted  in  a  beautiful  garden  which,  by  his 
fall,  he  has  converted  into  a  wilderness,  the  Redeemer  of 
the  world  must  prove  His  ability  at  the  very  outset  of 

168 


FIRST  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  169 

His  ministry  and  His  passion  to  vanquish  the  lord  of 
the  wilderness.  The  Spirit,  in  taking  Jesus  by  the  hand 
and  thus  leading  Him  away  from  the  haunts  of  men 
would  say  to  Him:  'The  task  before  you  is  greater  than 
any  ever  undertaken.  It  is  because  You  and  You  only^ 
being  one  with  God,  fully  understand  the  Father's  will 
that  You  have  been  commissioned  for  the  performance 
of  the  work  of  the  world's  redemption.  It  is  essential 
at  the  very  outset  to  think  carefully  and  prayerfully  of 
your  Father's  plan.  You  must  ever  have  this  plan  be- 
fore you.  The  cost  involved  in  its  execution  must  be 
measured.  There  is  no  way  in  which  the  world  may  be 
so  sure  of  Your  ability  to  emerge  the  victor  in  the  strife 
than  by  a  trial  of  Your  resolution  right  now.  Ever  bear 
in  mind  the  subtlety  of  the  enemy  of  mankind,  and  re- 
lease man  from  this  pernicious  deathly  hold.' 

Though  there  is  no  detailed  record  of  the  manner  in 
which  the  forty  days  in  the  wilderness  were  spent,  it  is 
certainly  not  presuming  too  much  to  say  that  the  period 
was  one  of  watchful,  searching,  earnest,  meditative 
prayer;  not  the  lip  language,  nor  the  artificial  stammer- 
ing we  sometimes  call  prayer,  not  the  critical  dissection, 
nor  the  superficial  nibbling  we  sometimes  call  medita- 
tion, but  communion  with  God  of  a  most  intense  char- 
acter and  an  earnest,  consistent,  fulsome  thinking- 
through  of  God's  program.  The  narrative  in  Mark  is 
much  simpler  and  much  more  condensed  than  is  that  of 
Matthew.  Mark  says  that  Jesus  "was  in  the  wilderness 
forty  days  tempted  of  Satan."  Matthew  tells  us  that 
after  Jesus  had  fasted  for  forty  days  and  forty  nights 
the  tempter  came  to  Him.  There  is  no  contradiction  in 
this  statement.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  entire  period 
of  forty  days  and  nights  was  a  season  of  temptation, 
just  as  there  is  no  doubt  that  specific  temptations, 
enumerated  by  two  of  the  evangelists  formed  the  climax 
of  the  crisis.     This  wilderness  scene  is  but  preliminary 


I70  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

to  the  garden  scene,  the  prayer  in  the  wilderness  that 
God's  will  be  done  is  re-echoed  in  the  garden  as  the  cup 
which  has  been  hovering  over  Him  many  times  forty 
days  and  nights  is  given  to  Him  to  drink.  The  forty 
days  spent  in  prayer  and  meditation  are  days  of  con- 
tinuous fighting  in  a  conquest  that  involves  the  mastery 
of  the  world.  Two  personal  factors,  both  of  them  men- 
tioned in  the  first  verse,  are  brought  to  our  attention  in 
a  careful  study  of  the  temptation  of  Jesus.  These  two 
are  the  Spirit  and  the  devil.  Let  us  read  the  verse  again: 
"Then  was  Jesus  led  up  of  the  Spirit  into  the  wilder- 
ness to  be  tempted  of  the  devil." 

A  moment's  thought  will  lead  us  to  see  that  tempta- 
tions encountered  without  the  aid  of  the  Spirit  will  in- 
variably result  in  a  victory  for  Satan,  whereas  tempta- 
tions encountered  under  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
just  as  invariably  result  in  the  conquest  of  Satan.  And 
whether  or  not  we  shall  lose  or  win  the  battle  we  are 
waging  will  depend  upon  whether  or  not  we  shall  enter 
the  fray  under  the  guidance  of  Satan  or  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  We  can  rest  assured  of  two  things.  Satan  is 
stronger  than  we  are.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  stronger  than 
Satan.  May  we  not  then  consider  the  three  temptations 
enumerated  from  the  standpoint  of  the  relationship  we 
shall  sustain  toward  them  as  we  are  influenced  more 
strongly  by  either  the  Spirit  or  by  Satan  ? 

Matthew  tells  us  that  the  forty  days  having  been  com- 
pleted "the  tempter  came  and  said  unto  Him,  If  thou 
art  the  Son  of  God,  command  that  these  stones  become 
bread.  But  Jesus  answered  and  said,  It  is  written  man 
shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  thnt 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  The  lowest  form 
of  temptation  is  invariably  the  temptation  that  apneals 
to  the  body.  We  have  all  heard  the  story  recited  by 
school-children  for  generations  of  the  woman  who  was 
accused  of  stealing  and  who  was  acquitted  by  the  judge 


FIRST  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  171 

on  the  plea  that  she  stole  to  satisfy  her  children's  need. 
They  had  no  bread.  They  needed  it  and,  not  knowing 
how  else  to  supply  it,  this  woman  took  it  in  a  moment 
of  despair.  The  story  is  pathetic  and  presents  the  temp- 
tation in  its  most  refined  form,  but  though  it  is  pathetic, 
it  is  ethically  and  spiritually  unsound.  The  tempter  knew 
how  to  persuade  this  poor  woman  to  sin  and  she  sinned. 
The  temptation  that  affects  the  body  is  the  temptation 
round  about  us  continually.  It  is  the  temptation  that 
primarily  environed  and  enslaved  Israel  in  Egypt.  The 
murmuring  of  Israel  while  on  the  march  through  the 
desert  for  the  flesh-pots  of  Egypt  indicates  that  Israel 
has  not  yet  learned  that  man  does  not  live  by  bread 
alone.  Jesus  has  this  incident  in  mind  as  Satan  ap- 
proaches Him.  It  was  God  who  fed  His  people  in  the 
desert  and  God  has  ever  been  the  same  very  present  help 
in  time  of  trouble.  Such  is  the  argument  of  Satan. 
Jesus  has  gone  farther  in  His  study  of  God's  plan  and 
Word  than  Satan.  He  recalls  the  gracious  dealings  of 
God  not  only  in  giving  bread,  but  especially  also  in  with- 
holding it  as  He  calls  to  Satan's  mind  the  word  of  Scrip- 
ture: "And  thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way  which 
Jehovah  thy  God  hath  led  thee  these  forty  years  in  the 
wilderness,  that  He  might  humble  thee,  to  prove  thee, 
to  know  what  was  in  thy  heart,  whether  thou  wouldest 
keep  his  commandments  or  not.  And  he  humbled  thee, 
and  suffered  thee  to  hunger,  and  fed  thee  with  manna, 
which  thou  knewest  not,  neither  did  thy  fathers  know, 
that  he  might  make  thee  know  that  man  doth  not  live 
by  bread  only,  but  by  everything  that  proceedeth  out  of 
the  mouth  of  Jehovah  doth  man  live."  The  mastery  of 
this  principle  is  of  exceeding  importance  because  Satan 
is  daily  trying  to  tempt  each  and  every  one  of  us  in  this 
carnal  manner.  How  many  of  us  listen  and  yield  as  he 
speaks  of  the  bread  which  forms  one  of  the  necessities 
of  life!    We  must  have  it  and  in  the  plausible  language 


172  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

of  some  of  Satan's  most  pliable  tools  "it  is  the  duty  of 
the  world  to  supply  it."  To  those  who  have  sufficient 
bread,  of  course,  some  further  bodily  temptation  must 
be  presented.  And  in  order  to  realize  his  low  purpose, 
Satan  has  keenly  and  shrewdly  evolved  a  system  of  caste 
as  binding  and  as  hard  in  Christian  lands  as  in  heathen 
countries.  Having  worked  out  his  system,  he  whispers 
to  men  and  women:  there  is  no  reason  why  you  should 
not  become  members  of  another  caste  and  in  thus  cajoling 
he  appreciates  the  hunger  for  just  this  sort  of  thing 
among  those  whom  he  is  approaching.  He  would  sup- 
plement the  legitimate  and  necessary  unfolding  of  man's 
life  by  artificial  means  and  thus  fasten  his  fangs  securely 
into  the  flesh  of  those  who  yield  to  his  ways.  But  even 
gilded  halls  lose  their  allurements  as  time  goes  on.  There 
must  be  diversion  within  these  halls  and  more  than  diver- 
sion, and  so  he  prompts  to  a  life  whose  end  is  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  sanctity  of  our  bodies  as  temples  of  God. 
Need  we  enumerate  the  temptations  he  has  in  reserve? 
Paul  has  done  it  for  us,  and  he  has  told  us  that  these 
are  the  things  that  war  against  the  spirit.  There  you 
have  it!  The  leading  must  be  that  of  the  devil  or  of 
the  Spirit.  How  shall  we  be  able  to  resist  the  pleadings 
of  the  evil  one  as  he  comes  to  us,  endeavoring  to  take 
us  at  a  disadvantage  as  he  offers  us  sufficient  bread  for 
the  journey  of  life.  There  is  no  way  of  resisting  these 
temptations,  absolutely  no  way  upon  earth,  save  as  the 
Holy  Spirit  fills  our  hearts  and  becomes  to  us  an  abiding 
presence.  Ruling  in  our  lives  He  will  transform  these 
lives  so  thoroughly  we  shall  no  longer  pine  for  the  flesh- 
pots  of  Egypt,  but  will  care  to  live  only  in  and  through 
and  unto  Him  who  is  the  Way,  the  Truth  and  the  Life. 
The  temptation  that  will  seduce  one  person  may  have 
absolutely  no  effect  upon  another.  This  has  made  it 
necessary  for  Satan  to  be  inventive,  to  present  the  allure- 
ments of  the  city  to  some  and  of  the  desert  to  others. 


FIRST  SUNDlAY  IN  LENT  173 

Jesus  cannot  be  led  into  temptation  when  alone.  And  is 
that  not  a  wonderful  test?  Satan  has  been  caught  nap- 
ping. He  has  forgotten  that  the  true  child  of  God  is 
never  alone,  even  in  the  desert.  Having  failed  in  this 
first  encounter,  he  does  not  relinquish  his  hold,  but  takes 
Him  into  the  holy  city  and  places  Him  on  the  pinnacle 
of  the  temple  and  says  unto  Him:  "If  thou  art  the 
Son  of  God,  cast  thyself  down;  for  it  is  written,  He  shall 
give  His  angels  charge  concerning  Thee;  and,  on  their 
hands  they  shall  bear  Thee  up  lest  haply  Thou  dash  Thy 
foot  against  a  stone."  Again  the  appeal  to  Jesus  is  an 
appeal  to  His  Sonship.  "If  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God" — 
what  a  challenge !  What  a  challenge  to  one  who  is  about 
to  assert  His  Father's  will  and  to  do  that  will.  And  again, 
you  will  note  the  subtlety  of  Satan.  Christ  has  placed 
Himself  firmly  upon  the  "it  is  written"  of  Scripture. 
That  is  to  be  His  norm  through  life.  Satan  accepts  the 
challenge  and  proves  that  he,  too,  knows  Scripture,  at 
least,  its  letter.  As  the  first  temptation  was  one  that 
affected  the  body,  the  second  is  to  affect  the  mind,  that 
citadel  of  human  longing  and  aspiration.  Satan  was  not 
in  this  instance  appealing  to  the  vanity  of  Christ,  as  so 
many  would  have  us  to  believe.  He  was  entirely  too 
shrewd  for  that.  He  was  appealing  to  a  passion  within 
Christ  to  be  acknowledged  as  God's  ambassador  and 
thereby  to  be  permitted  to  begin  promptly  and  effectively 
the  work  for  which  He  had  been  sent  to  the  world.  Did 
not  Satan  even  then  know  of  the  latent  ability  of  Christ 
to  perform  miracles,  and  did  not  he  misjudge  the  use 
to  which  that  power  would  be  put,  as  he  thought  of  this 
power  from  his  own  standpoint  rather  than  from  God's 
standpoint?  The  quotation  from  the  ninety-first  Psalm 
applied  by  Satan  not  to  the  believer  as  such,  but  to  the 
Son  of  God  as  such,  certainly  does  not  deny  this  inter- 
pretation. It  speaks  of  guardianship,  and  implies  power. 
It  is  Jesus  who  is  to  initiate  the  action  and  the  angels 


174  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

are  to  serve  Him.  It  is  Jesus  who  is  to  act  and  God  is 
to  confirm  the  action.  The  miraculous,  which  is  to  form 
such  a  prominent  phase  of  Christ's  activity,  is  to  begin 
here  and  now  in  the  Holy  City,  within  the  confines  of 
the  temple,  before  an  assembled  host  of  worshippers. 
Jesus,  again  quoting  from  the  book  of  Deuteronomy, 
saith  unto  him:  "Again  it  is  written.  Thou  shalt  not 
make  trial  of  the  Lord  thy  God."  Jesus  once  more  has 
been  victorious,  the  same  Jesus  who  was  led  by  the 
Spirit  into  the  wilderness  was  accompanied  by  the  Spirit 
from  the  wilderness  to  the  Holy  City. 

There  are  many  men  and  women  in  our  day  who  seem 
to  be  unaffected  by  temptations  which  beset  the  body, 
but  are  very  much  affected  by  temptation  which  touches 
the  mind.  Satan  offered  to  Christ  the  exercise  of  the 
power  of  achievement,  a  power  very  much  sought  after 
today,  sometimes  rightly,  but  many  times  wrongly. 
Christ  believed  in  achievement,  but  only  when  His  hour 
had  come  and  only  when  achievement  implied  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  well-being  of  man.  The  distinction  be- 
tween His  mind  and  our  mind  is  patent.  Are  there  not 
men  and  women  among  us  who  are  constantly  trying 
the  Lord  our  God  by  endeavoring  to  measure  mind  with 
mind,  finite  mind  and  infinite  mind  being  weighed  in 
the  same  balance?  We  cannot  say  that  the  first  temp- 
tation and  its  consideration  refers  especially  to  the  indus- 
trial classes  and  the  second  to  the  professional  classes, 
our  individual  constitution  is  too  involved  for  that,  but 
there  is  a  wonderful  survey  of  the  present-day  outlook 
and  problem  in  these  temptations.  And  just  as  the 
first  temptation  can  only  be  resisted  as  the  Spirit  is  pres- 
ent and  assists  us,  the  second  requires  an  equally  large 
measure  of  help  and  guidance  from  on  High.  We  are 
naturally  amazed  at  the  infinitude  of  a  mind  that  can 
grasp  and  comprehend  the  sumi  total  of  the  problems  of 
the  human  mind  and,  with  Paul,  we  cry  out  as  we  have 


FIRST  SUNDlAY  IN  LENT  175 

come  to  a  partial  realization  of  the  depth  of  the  riches 
both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God:  "How  un- 
searchable are  His  judgments,  and  His  ways  past  tracing 
out."  Had  Jesus  yielded  to  the  second  temptation  of 
Satan  He  would  ever  after  have  been  Satan's  inferior. 

There  is  to  be  a  final  test.  The  temptation  hurled  at 
the  body  has  been  resisted.  The  temptation  hurled  at  the 
mind  has  been  resisted.  Is  there  nothing  else  in  this 
person  that  may  be  vulnerable?  And  Satan  thinks  of 
Jesus'  soul.  Of  course,  if  he  had  conquered  His  body  he 
would  likewise  have  conquered  His  soul.  And  if  he  had 
conquered  His  mind  he  would  also  have  been  victor  over 
His  soul,  but  he  has  thus  far  endeavored  to  conceal  his 
real  purpose.  He  cannot  continue  this  particular  series 
of  temptations  indefinitely,  hence  he  hurls  his  attack 
directly  against  the  object  of  his  attack,  the  soul  of 
Jesus.  "Again,  the  devil  taketh  Him  unto  an  exceeding 
high  mountain  and  showeth  Him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  and  the  glory  of  them,  and  he  said  unto  Him, 
all  these  things  will  I  give  Thee,  if  Thou  wilt  fall  down 
and  worship  me." 

The  brazenness  of  the  demand  startles  us.  Undoubt- 
edly if  we  could  be  made  to  realize  that  every  temptation 
is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  deliberate  effort  on  the 
part  of  Satan  to  subject  the  soul  to  his  dominion  we 
should  pray  more  fervently  than  we  do  "lead  us  not  into 
temptation."  It  is  very  clear  that  Satan  meant  that 
Jesus  was  to  recognize  his  superiority  and  his  right  to 
bestow  gifts  upon  Him  in  return  for  devotion  and 
homage.  Jesus  was  to  subject  Himself  completely  to 
Satan.  He  was  to  recognize  a  lordship  other  than  of 
His  Father.  In  ordering  Satan  away,  Jesus  proves  that 
He  at  least  understood  the  implications  of  the  homage 
which  Satan  demanded  as  once  more  He  quotes  the 
Word  of  God:  "It  is  written,  Thou  shalt  worship  the 
Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve."     This 


176  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

third  temptation  teaches  us  that  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  trial  of  but  part  of  a  man  or  woman  in  Christian 
life.  The  whole  man  is  always  involved  and  the  whole 
man  will  ultimately  gain  the  victory  or  be  defeated  ac- 
cording to  the  relationship  he  sustains  to  the  Spirit.  In 
quite  another  sense  than  Satan  had  either  anticipated  or 
desired  the  prophetic  word  of  the  ninety-first  Psalm 
was  fulfilled  when  Satan,  having  been  expelled  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord,  angels  came  and  ministered  unto 
Jesus. 

It  may  sound  paradoxical,  but  it  is  true  that  the  pres- 
ence and  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  our  temptations 
places  a  restraint  upon  us.  Christ  was  held  back,  held 
back  from  converting  the  stones  into  bread,  held  back 
from  letting  Himself  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the 
temple,  held  back  from  ascribing  homage  to  Satan,  This 
does  not  negate  the  power  of  personal  resistance.  He 
was  not  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  Spirit  with  no  power 
of  His  own.  It  means  that  His  human  nature  was 
trained  in  the  school  of  the  divine,  just  as  our  human 
nature  is  to  be  trained  through  its  dependence  on  His 
Word  and  its  faith  in  His  Person. 

Christ's  emergence  from  the  wilderness  as  the  victor 
over  Satan  even  ere  His  public  ministry  has  begun  is  a 
pledge  to  us  that  He  is  what  Satan  termed  Him  hypo- 
thetically — the  Son  of  God. 


XXII. 
SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  LENT. 

Matthew  15 :  24. 
"I  was  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel." 

Jesus  left  the  borders  of  the  lake  of  Gennesaret  to 
escape  the  cold,  carping,  unsympathetic  criticism  of  the 
traditionalist  leaders  of  Judaism,  who  avowedly  preferred 
the  letter  to  the  spirit  and  their  own  traditions  to  the 
commandments  of  God  given  by  Moses.  You  will  re- 
member that  the  embassy  of  Pharisees  and  Scribes  sent 
from  Jerusalem  to  intercept  Him  had  found  Christ  at 
Gennesaret  and  straightway  put  to  Him  the  question 
which  was  to  cause  Him  much  discomfiture:  "Why  do 
Thy  disciples  transgress  the  traditions  of  the  elders, 
for  they  wash  not  their  hands  before  they  eat  bread?" 
Think  of  a  body  of  learned  men,  or  supposedly  learned 
men,  think  of  a  body  of  religious  leaders  sending  all  the 
way  from  Jerusalem  to  the  lake  of  Galilee  for  an  answer 
to  such  a  puerile  question.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
legalistic  party  among  the  Jews  had  taken  it  upon  itself 
to  change  an  original  commandment  which  was  intended 
for  the  priests  into  a  tradition  applied  to  all  persons.  The 
tradition  supplanting  the  commandment  made  the  com- 
mandment void.  Jesus  needed  not  to  have  retired  in  the 
face  of  such  criticism.  He  answered  it  effectively  by 
pointing  out  the  false  pretence,  the  hypocrisy  underlying 
the  acceptance  of  tradition  involving  the  sacrifice  of  the 
original  commandment.  In  effect  He  said:  It  was  God 
Who  decreed  that  we  shall  honor  our  fathers  and  our 
mothers,  and  that  he  that  speaketh  evil  of   father  or 

177 


178  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

mother  shall  die.  But  ye  say  whosoever  shall  say  to  his 
father  or  mother  that  wherewith  thou  mightest  have  been 
profited  by  me  is  given  to  God  is  exempt  from  this  very 
commandment.  If  this  is  a  fair  illustration  of  your  tra- 
ditionalism in  its  working  out  is  not  your  traditionalism 
to  be  condemned?  Proceeding  to  answer  the  question 
they  have  put,  Jesus  tells  them  that  real  defilement  is 
not  caused  by  what  entereth  the  mouth,  but  by  what  pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  mouth,  hence  has  its  origin  in  the 
very  innermost  recesses  of  the  sentient,  thinking,  moral 
or  immoral,  spiritual  or  unspiritual  man. 

Imagine  a  great  soul  battling  with  the  problem  of  life 
and  eternity  on  behalf  of  others,  earnestly  striving  to 
actualize  the  weal  of  every  living  being,  attempting  by 
thought  and  speech,  by  example  and  act  to  illustrate  the 
way  of  salvation  brought  ever  and  again  face  to  face 
with  this  sort  of  criticism.  It  was  harrowing  in  the  ex- 
treme. It  was  harrowing  because  it  pointed  clearly  to 
His  ultimate  rejection,  harrowing  because  it  brought  into 
prominence  the  blind  leadership  of  those  who  endeavored 
to  lead.  It  was  harrowing  because  it  distracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  disciples  from  the  real  issue  to  trifling  irrele- 
vancies.  His  retreat  to  the  borders  of  Tyre  and  Sidon 
under  these  circumstances  was  not  strange.  He  needed 
to  be  freed,  if  but  for  a  moment,  as  you  will  realize  if 
you  turn  to  the  very  next  chapter,  from  the  incessant 
hostile  questionings  of  the  Pharisees.  He  needed  a  re- 
spite in  order  that  He  might  speak  seriously,  quietly  and 
effectively  to  His  disciples  concerning  the  mission  in 
which  He  was  already  engaged  and  in  which  they  were 
to  engage.  He  needed  to  teach  them  and  the  world  the 
real  reason  for  the  Incarnation,  that  for  all  time  the 
world  might  know  why  He  had  come,  for  whom  and  to 
whom  He  had  come. 

The  encounter  with  the  Canaanitish  woman  at  this 
point,  upon  the  very  borderline  of  the  Jewish  and  Gentile 


SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  179 

world  was  not  by  chance.  The  lessons  involved  in  that 
incident  are  not  to  be  placed  on  a  par  with  the  traditions 
of  the  elders,  but  belong  to  the  enunciation  by  Christ  of 
the  truths  of  eternal  life.  What  a  contrast  between  the 
proud,  assertive  leaders  of  the  chosen  people  when  they 
have  just  left  behind  because  they  dared  not  enter  even 
upon  the  borderline  of  heathendom,  and  this  meek,  hum- 
ble, penitent,  contrite  Greek-speaking  descendant  of  the 
old  inhabitants  of  Syro-Phoenicia,  whose  name,  accord- 
ing to  the  Clementine  Homilies,  was  Justa  and  her 
daughter's  name  Bernice.  This  woman  has  heard  of  the 
advent  of  the  Son  of  David.  She  seeks  and  finds  Him. 
She  has  no  question  of  casuistry  with  which  to  approach 
Him.  She  comes  with  a  real  need  to  one  who,  in  her 
judgment  and  because  of  her  faith  in  Him,  can  meet 
that  need.  She  importunes:  "Have  mercy  on  me,  O 
Lord,  Thou  Son  of  David,  my  daughter  is  grievously 
vexed  with  a  demon."  The  cry  of  the  woman  is  op- 
pressive. The  silence  of  Christ  is  equally  oppressive. 
The  disciples  beg  of  Him  to  "send  her  away  for  she 
crieth  after  us."  Jesus  turns  to  them,  not  to  the  woman, 
and  says:  "I  was  not  sent  but  unto  the  lost  sheep  of 
the  house  of  Israel."  Undaunted  by  the  remark  which 
she  very  likely  overheard,  she  comes  to  Him,  worships 
Him  and  says:  "Lord,  help  me."  This  time  turning  to 
her  Jesus  says:  "It  is  not  meet  to  take  the  children's 
bread  and  cast  it  to  the  dogs."  Even  yet  undaunted 
she  replies:  "Yea  Lord,  for  even  the  dogs  eat  of  the 
crumbs  which  fall  from  their  masters'  table."  She  has 
won  the  day.  Her  faith  has  won  the  day.  She  receives 
the  assurance  she  craved,  "O  woman,  great  is  thy  faith; 
be  it  done  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt."  And  the  evan- 
gelist adds:  "And  her  daughter  was  healed  from  that 
hour." 

The  lesson  which  Jesus  would  teach  may  be  approached 
from  one  of  several  angles.    We  have  chosen  to  approach 


i8o  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

it  from  the  angle  injected  by  Christ  when  He  said:  "I 
was  not  sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel." 
In  these  words  we  have  a  message  addressed  to  the 
disciples,  the  Canaanitish  woman  and  to  us. 

Addressed  to  the  disciples  these  words  are  very  clearly 
a  rebuke.  The  silence  of  Jesus  was  at  all  times  as  sig- 
nificant as  His  speech  or  act.  His  silence  was  never  to 
be  interpreted  as  either  a  lack  of  compassion  on  the  one 
hand  or  of  comprehension  on  the  other.  There  was  sym- 
pathy in  His  silence.  There  was  intelligent  fore-thought 
in  that  silence.  If  only  we  could  emulate  Him  in  that 
one  respect !  Silence  such  as  His  tokens  intelligence  not 
ignorance,  the  quiet  working  out  of  problems,  the  im- 
portant accumulation  of  facts,  the  laying-up  in  the  store- 
house of  the  mind  and  heart  of  treasures  which  shall 
nourish  and  sustain  life  in  great  crises.  He  was  work- 
ing while  silent.  His  disciples  could  not  see  the  work 
He  was  doing.  They,  too,  were  working,  but  their 
thought  and  their  Master's  differed  vitally  at  times.  He 
was  thinking  out  a  method  whereby  He  might  most 
effectively  help  this  woman  without  sacrificing  the  flow 
of  the  channel  of  grace.  They  were  disturbed  in  their 
minds  because  of  the  commotion  produced  by  the  woman. 
They  realized  how  eas)^  it  would  be  for  Jesus  to  grant 
her  request.  His  answer  to  them  clearly  indicates  that 
they  did  not  mean  Jesus  should  dismiss  her  without 
granting  her  request.  When  they  said  to  Him,  "Send 
her  away,  for  she  crieth  after  us,"  they  were  adding  a 
thorn  to  the  crown  which  was  even  then  being  woven 
for  His  head.  No  remark  could  have  shown  their  pro- 
fessionalism more  conclusively.  Why  was  Jesus  to  help 
this  woman?  not  because  she  needed  help,  not  because 
her  affliction  moved  them  to  compassion,  not  because 
of  any  sympathy  for  her  daughter.  There  was  one  rea- 
son and  only  one  why  in  their  opinion  she  should  be 
helped — because  it  was  annoying  to  have  her  continue 


SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  i8i 

to  cry  and  thus  disturb  their  peace.  Had  Jesus  yielded 
to  their  importunity  He  would  have  shared  in  their 
thought  and  would  have  sacrificed  His  position  as  our 
Master.  It  was  but  one  of  the  continued  assaults  of  Satan 
throughout  His  earthly  life  in  a  supreme  effort  to  de- 
throne Him.  The  motive  which  prompted  them  was 
equivalent  to  the  motive  which  at  times  prompts  us  to 
send  a  beggar  from  our  door  with  a  few  pennies  or 
prompts  the  dismissal  of  a  great  cause  from  our  minds 
by  filling  out  a  paltry  check. 

In  another  way  was  this  message  addressed  to  the  dis- 
ciples to  be  a  rebuke.  They  had  come  to  Him  after  He 
had  answered  the  Pharisees  at  Gennesaret  and  said  to 
Him:  Knowest  thou  that  the  Pharisees  were  offended?" 
How  very  human  this  concern  of  theirs  lest  those  occupy- 
ing prominent  positions  be  offended.  The  Pharisees  ap- 
proached Plim  as  the  self-designated  leaders  of  the  House 
of  Israel.  The  disciples  had  covertly  at  least  sided  with 
them.  Their  Master  had  gone  a  bit  too  far  for  them  in 
His  antagonism.  It  might  be  necessary  for  Him  to  re- 
tract some  of  the  things  He  said.  This  was  their 
thought.  They  could  not  afford  to  break  completely 
with  the  Pharisees,  for  they  were  the  representatives  of 
God's  people.  These  were  undoubtedly  the  thoughts  of 
His  disciples,  thoughts  that  prompt  Jesus  to  say  to  them: 
"Every  plant  which  my  heavenly  Father  planted  not 
shall  be  rooted  up.  Let  them  alone;  they  are  blind 
guides."  Still  unconvinced  by  what  Jesus  has  said,  they 
have  suddenly  been  brought  to  this  border-land  where 
the  problem  of  evangelization  is  to  be  presented  to  them 
in  a  concrete  form  such  as  they  have  had  no  opportunity 
to  experience  hitherto.  A  heathen  woman  seeks  to  be 
healed,  in  the  healing  of  her  daughter  who  is  tormented 
by  demons.  There  could  not  have  been  presented  a  more 
radical  case  than  this.  Demons  in  heathen  lands  to  be 
driven  from  a  heathen  woman  by  the  Messiah  of  Israel ! 


i82  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Jesus  presents  a  very  real  problem  to  the  disciples  as  He 
suddenly  asks  them:  Why  do  you  request  the  healing  of 
this  woman,  you  the  friends  of  the  Pharisees,  you  who  are 
Jews,  you  who  know  that  my  mission  is  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel?  Can  you  not  see  how  the 
machinery  of  their  minds  was  set  to  work?  They  had 
been  moving  in  a  certain  direction,  the  direction  of  a 
legalistic  Judaism,  The  moment  had  arrived  when  it 
became  necessary  to  reverse  the  lever  and  prove  to  them 
the  disparity  between  the  political  parties  dominant  in 
Jerusalem  and  the  House  of  Israel.  They  were  not 
synonymous.  The  disciples  must  be  taught  the  differ- 
ence between  them.  The  message  of  Jesus,  "I  was  not 
sent  but  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  House  of  Israel"  ad- 
dressed to  those  who  had  just  asked  that  this  woman  be 
heard,  her  request  granted  and  she  be  sent  away,  pro- 
duced a  momentary  confusion  as  they  thought  as  they 
had  never  thought  before  concerning  the  question  of  sal- 
vation. In  their  readiness  to  help  were  they  not  antag- 
onizing the  Pharisees?  In  His  anwer  was  Jesus  not  in 
apparent  agreement  with  them?  You  see  how  enor- 
mously important  this  little  jaunt  to  the  seaside  and  a 
foreign  land  becomes  to  the  disciples.  As  a  new  world 
unfolds  before  us  as  we  visit  foreign  lands  and  return 
with  a  greater  vision,  the  disciples  were  apt  to  remem- 
ber not  so  much  the  contour  of  the  land  they  visited  but 
the  Canaanitish  woman  who  had  unconsciously  laid  be- 
fore them  the  problem  of  the  evangelization  of  the  world 
and  forced  them  to  grapple  with  that  problem  in  such  a 
manner  that  they  were  at  least  somewhat  prepared  when 
their  Lord  later  said  to  them  as  He  left,  "Go  ye,  there- 
fore, into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature." 

Though  the  message  was  primarily  addressed  to  the 
disciples  and  corresponded  to  the  commission  they  re- 
ceived when  they  were  called,  it  was  indirectly  addressed 


SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  183 

to  the  Canaanitish  woman.  Whether  or  not  she  heard 
this  particular  statement  is  beside  the  question.  She  cer- 
tainly indicated  by  her  answer  to  the  subsequent  state- 
ment of  the  Lord  addressed  to  her  that  she  knew  more 
about  the  Savior's  mission  and  its  beneficiaries  than  did 
the  disciples.  The  attitude  of  Jesus  and  His  words  are 
to  be  looked  upon  as  a  test  applied  to  the  faith  of  the 
Canaanitish  woman.  The  heroic  mould  of  this  Gentile 
suppliant  is  well  worthy  our  earnest  study.  We  cannot 
but  admire  any  person  placed  in  a  similarly  unfortunate 
position  who  has  courage  enough  to  fight  down  pride  and 
the  rising  sense  of  shame  as  it  becomes  apparent  there  is 
but  one  thing  to  do  to  save  the  soul  of  a  dear  one  from 
destruction,  namely,  to  assume  the  sin  and  sickness  of 
the  sufferer,  blazon  it  forth,  if  necessary,  in  the  sight 
and  hearing  of  others  with  one  purpose  only,  of  ridding 
that  life  of  a  cancer  that  is  slowly  devouring  it.  The 
first  glory  of  the  Canaanitish  woman  manifested  itself 
in  the  heroism  which  prompted  her  approach.  She  was 
not  prompted  by  the  sense  of  a  last  resort  as  were  some 
others  who  came  to  the  Lord.  She  did  not  agree  to  try 
the  panacea  suggested  by  another,  to  retreat  after  find- 
ing that  the  heralding  forth  of  the  shame  of  her  daugh- 
ter was  heard  by  all  ears  except  those  for  which  it  was 
intended.  There  was  resolution  in  her  determination. 
There  was  resolution  in  her  advent.  There  was  the  reso- 
lution of  assurance  in  her  persistency.  Her  resolution 
was  born  of  faith.  Her  second  glory,  or  was  it  not  a 
prior  glory,  consisted  in  the  fact  that  she  did  not  come 
to  Jesus  as  a  stranger.  It  is  true  she  was  a  heathen. 
It  is  true  she  was  not  outwardly  a  mem^ber  of  the  chosen 
race,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  she  lived  on  the  border- 
line and  that  her  outlook  was  not  narrow.  She  had 
taken  advantage  of  her  opportunities  to  associate  with  the 
children  of  Israel  to  ask  them  somewhat  about  their  re- 
ligion and  their  Messiah.     Her  very  approach,  her  very 


i84  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

address  indicates  this  familiarity:  "O  Lord,  thou  Son  of 
David."  These  are  not  words  she  has  learned  by  rote 
and  is  repeating  mechanically.  They  are  words  born 
of  her  faith  in  Him  whom  she  has  already  learned  to 
know.  Her  third  glory  is  her  willingness  to  abide  by 
the  plan  of  Jesus.  Was  it  or  was  it  not  proper  that 
Jesus  should  have  come  as  He  did,  a  Jew,  endeavoring 
to  establish  the  Kingdom  of  God  through  His  own  peo- 
ple? That  is  the  question  we  would  have  asked.  It  is 
the  one  question  the  Canaanitish  woman  does  not  ask. 
She  knows  very  well  there  must  be  a  well-defined  chan- 
nel for  grace  as  there  is  a  channel  for  sin.  She  knows 
that  someone  must  be  responsible,  that  someone  must 
assume  the  burden,  and  if  there  is  any  glory,  of  course, 
it  is  right  and  proper  for  those  who  assume  the  burden 
to  share  in  the  glory.  There  must  be  concentration  in 
this  work  of  Jesus.  It  will  not  do  to  Christianize  a 
single  individual  in  each  race.  The  revelation  of  the  old 
covenant  has  come  to  and  through  Israel.  Israel  must  wil- 
lingly or  unwillingly  assume  its  obligation  and  its  preroga- 
tive. The  Messiah  is  the  Messiah  of  Israel  first,  after- 
ward He  is  the  Messiah  of  and  for  the  world.  Israel 
must,  through  Paul  and  Peter  and  John  and  others, 
preach  Christ  to  both  Jew  and  gentile.  The  Canaanitish 
woman  does  not  question  this.  We  do,  we  who  seek  Christ 
anywhere  and  everywhere  except  here  in  this  church,  we 
who  have  not  fully  realized  the  importance,  the  sacred- 
ness  of  our  fellowship  in  His  church.  The  fourth  glory 
is  her  willingness  to  abide  by  the  classification  of  Christ. 
It  was  common  to  speak  of  the  heathen  as  dogs.  The 
term  has  lost  its  harshness  on  the  lips  of  Jesus,  who 
uses  the  diminutive  appellation  applied  ordinarily  to  the 
little  dogs  permitted  to  share  the  luxury  of  their  masters. 
The  woman  has  caught  the  distinction.  She  pins  down 
the  Savior,  as  it  were,  to  His  own  statement,  reminding 
Him  of  the  natural  order  of  things  and  the  reasonable 


SECOND  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  185 

expectation  of  the  little  dogs  as  they  await  the  bits 
which  they  know  they  will  receive.  The  test  has  achieved 
its  purpose.  The  heroic  faith  of  this  woman  has  con- 
quered the  Master  whom  Satan  could  not  conquer.  "Her 
daughter  was  healed  from  that  hour." 

The  question  naturally  arises,  was  this  the  turning 
point  in  the  program  of  Christ?  Did  He  suddenly 
abandon  His  plan  on  beholding  the  faith  of  the  gentile 
petitioner  and  henceforth  look  upon  His  mission  as 
changed  in  character  and  purpose?  Did  He  suddenly 
relinquish  the  thought  which  He  had  endeavored  so 
earnestly  to  impress  upon  the  disciples  ?  The  subsequent 
narrative  of  His  earthly  life  makes  it  imperative  to 
answer  by  means  of  a  negative.  He  did  continue  to  prove 
His  mission  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  House  of  Israel. 
If  this  be  so,  then  you  are  justified  in  asking,  was  not 
the  Canaanitish  woman  one  of  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
House  of  Israel?  Yes,  in  the  same  sense  in  which  we 
are  lost  sheep  of  the  House  of  Israel.  The  House  of 
Israel !  Mark  the  distinction  which  Jesus  draws  between 
Jewish  descent  and  Israelitic  descent.  They  pride  them- 
selves upon  their  lineal  descent  from  Abraham,  Isaac 
and  Jacob.  Jesus  points  out  to  the  leaders  of  His  day 
that  theirs  is  not  to  be  reckoned  a  prestige  of  flesh,  of 
lineal  descent,  of  social  rank.  Their  heritage  is  spiritual, 
the  faith  of  Abraham,  not  the  person  of  Abraham,  the 
victory  of  Israel,  not  the  remembrance  of  Jacob. 

Is  it  not  pertinent  and  important  to  allude  in  con- 
clusion to  the  incident  which  gave  to  an  individual  and 
through  him  to  an  entire  people  a  new  name?  the  mean- 
ing of  which  is  the  key  to  the  statement  of  Christ  in  our 
text.  Do  you  remember  the  scene  which  took  place  by 
the  ford  of  the  Jabbok  as  Jacob  wrestled  with  the  angel 
of  the  Lord?  Do  you  remember  the  unwillingness  of 
Jacob  to  permit  the  withdrawal  of  him  with  whom  he 
was  wrestling  until  he  had  exacted  a  blessing  from  him  ? 


i86  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Do  you  remember  the  resultant  blessing?  "Thy  name 
shall  be  called  no  more  Jacob,  but  Israel;  for  thou  hast 
striven  with  God  and  with  men,  and  hast  prevailed." 
Israel  means  "he  who  striveth  with  God"  in  the  sense  of 
winning  a  victory.  Let  me  ask  you  was  the  woman  of 
whom  we  have  been  speaking  a  lost  sheep  of  the  House 
of  Israel  or  was  she  not?  Did  she  not  strive  with  God 
in  the  person  of  the  Son?  Did  she  not  prevail?  Were 
the  statement  and  the  act  of  Christ  contradictory?  Let 
me  ask  you  have  you  ever  striven  with  God  in  this  way? 
Have  you  ever  forced  Him  to  say  yes  to  the  request  that 
the  demons  be  driven  from  your  life?  Have  you  ever 
experienced  the  heroic  sense  of  victorious  power  spoken 
of  by  John:  "For  whatsoever  is  born  of  God  over- 
cometh  the  world ;  and  this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world,  even  our  faith." 


XXIII. 
THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  LENT. 

Luke  ii  :  15. 

"Some  of  them  said,  by  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  demons 
casteth  he  out  demons." 

The  phlegmatic,  weak,  non-assertive  individual,  satis- 
fied with  things  as  they  are,  unable  or  unwilling  to  see 
them  in  more  ideal  relationships,  has  Httle  to  fear  in 
pursuing  the  journey  of  life.  As  far  as  he  is  concerned, 
the  victory  of  faith  has  been  achieved  without  his  inter- 
vention. As  far  as  he  is  concerned,  national  problems 
have  been  evolved  to  such  an  extent  they  do  not  demand 
any  interference  or  co-operation  on  his  part.  The  social 
questions  of  the  day  are  being  determined  by  persons 
who  are  interested  in  them  and  that  relieves  him  of  re- 
sponsibility in  this  sphere.  And  so  every  large  question 
is  confronted  with  the  sort  of  good  will  which  wishes  it 
well,  but  asks  it  to  go  ahead  without  troubling  him  and 
thus  diverting  the  easy  flow  of  his  life.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  active,  strong-minded,  powerfully  willed, 
assertive  individual,  not  satisfied  with  things  as  they  are, 
but  viewing  them  in  their  more  ideal  and  possible  rela- 
tionship, is  confronted  at  every  turn  with  obstacles 
placed  in  his  way  by  those  whose  traditions  are  being 
destroyed,  whose  livelihood  is  endangered  and  whose 
ease  is  jeopardized. 

The  battles  for  reform  in  civic  life,  for  betterment  in 
social  life,  for  brotherliness  in  human  intercourse,  for 
the  highest  achievable  standards  in  our  national  life,  and 
for  the  supremacy  of  the  true  faith  have  ever  been  ren- 
dered most  terrible  and  sanguinary,  not  because  of  the 

187 


i88  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

open  hostility  encountered  on  an  open  battlefield,  but 
because  of  the  secret  intrigue  of  spies,  whose  sphere  is 
that  of  prowling  in  the  dark,  of  seeking  to  detect  a  vul- 
nerable spot  and  of  endeavoring  to  strike  a  fatal  blow. 
We  are  not  led  to  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  encountered 
any  opposition  during  the  formative  period  of  His  life. 
His  advent  upon  the  scene  was  welcomed  and  it  was 
only  when  the  subtle  teachers  of  Israel  discovered  that 
His  synagogue  teaching  and  His  public  preaching,  His 
active  ministry  in  healing  the  sick  and  raising  the  dead 
was  a  ministry  and  a  teaching  and  preaching  with  power 
such  as  they  themselves  did  not  possess  that  they  began 
to  question  that  power  and  to  endanger  that  life.  Christ 
would  never  have  been  antagonized  by  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees  and  the  rulers  of  the  people  if  He  had  not 
begun  a  campaign  in  which  the  assertion  of  power  was 
manifest.  The  very  patent  assertion  of  power  imme- 
diately made  it  incumbent  upon  his  critics  and  opponents 
to  discover  its  secret.  As  long  as  they  were  unable  to 
fathom  its  source,  just  so  long  they  would  be  absolutely 
helpless  in  resisting  its  wonderful  impact.  They  must 
know  its  secret  in  order  either  to  launch  their  attacks 
directly  against  the  source  or  to  invent  a  plausible  theory 
with  which  to  counteract  His  claims.  Why  did  they  seek 
to  ascertain  the  secret  of  His  power?  not  that  they  might 
prove  to  be  scientists,  not  that  they  might  know,  not 
that  they  might  be  believers,  not  that  their  faith  in  Him 
might  be  strengthened,  not  that  they  might  add  to  the 
store  of  honest  opinions  cherished  by  themselves  or 
others,  but  rather  that  they  might  put  down  a  person 
whose  honest  leadership  they  were  unwilling  to  follow 
and  whose  unique  and  terrible  sacrifice  they  were  unable 
to  appreciate.  The  gospel  lesson  for  this  day  lays  bare 
the  intrigue,  the  wicked  thoughts,  the  maliciousness,  the 
hostility  which  drove  Jesus  to  the  Cross.  His  crucifixion 
is  planned  with  deliberate  forethought,  with  stoical  re- 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  189 

sourcefulness,  with  satanic  spirit.  And  nowhere  does 
the  deliberate  attempt  to  vilify  Him  appear  more  flagrant 
than  in  the  accusation  which  insists  that  He  drives  out 
demons  by  the  prince  of  the  demons. 

It  may  be  well  for  us  to  attempt  to  follow  them  a  bit 
in  their  dastardly  effort  to  fasten  upon  Him  a  motive 
for  His  action.  It  is  not  a  matter  of  conjecture,  but  of 
gospel  record  that  the  friends  of  Jesus,  unable  to  follow 
His  thought  or  action  to  a  proper  conclusion,  attributed 
His  conduct  to  a  state  of  mental  disturbance.  We  read 
in  Mark  "And  he  cometh  into  a  house.  And  the  multi- 
tude cometh  together  again,  so  that  they  could  not  so 
much  as  eat  bread.  And  when  his  friends  heard  it,  they 
went  out  to  lay  hold  on  Him ;  for  they  said  He  is  beside 
Himself,"  You  will  at  once  recall  that  Jesus  was  not 
alone  among  the  children  of  the  kingdom  against  whom 
an  accusation  such  as  this  was  made.  Festus  said  to 
Paul  at  a  subsequent  time:  "Much  learning  doth  make 
thee  mad."  But  we  must  continue  to  read  the  narrative 
of  Mark,  which  speaks  of  the  fear  of  his  friends.  It 
was  really  this  attitude  of  theirs  which  encouraged  the 
scribes  on  coming  down  from  Jerusalem  to  say  with  a 
semblance  of  authority:  "He  hath  Beelzebub"  and  "By 
the  prince  of  the  demons  casteth  He  out  the  demons." 
Thus  the  primary  enemies  of  Jesus  were  they  of  His  own 
household.  An  attempt  to  analyze  the  accusation  in  the 
light  of  the  irrefutable  logic  of  Jesus  will  be  both  inter- 
esting and  instructive. 

Beelzebub  or  Beelzebul,  variously  defined,  is  before  and 
above  all  else  the  god  of  idolatry;  as  such  he  was  looked 
upon  by  the  children  of  Israel  as  the  worst  foe  of  their 
nation.  If  there  was  any  one  thing  which  God  loathed 
above  another  it  was  idolatry,  and  if  there  was  any  one 
thing  which  Israel  had  struggled  heroically  to  overcome 
it  was  idolatry.  Time  and  again  there  had  been  deflec- 
tions from  the  worship  of  the  one  true  God,  perhaps 


190  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  most  heinous  and  glaring  of  them  all,  the  worship 
of  the  golden  calf  as  Moses,  their  leader,  was  communing 
with  God  upon  the  mount.  But  Israel  had  endeavored 
to  rid  itself  of  this  sin  and  had  been  at  least  measurably 
successful  through  the  efforts  of  these  very  leaders  of 
the  people  who  are  now  accusing  Christ  of  being  an 
emissary  of  this  god  of  idolatry.  Their  insistence  upon 
this  one  evil  had  completely  shut  their  eyes  to  the  exist- 
ence of  many  other  sins  which  rendered  the  observance 
of  this  one  law  of  worship  null  and  void.  To  return  to 
the  charge:  "By  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  demons 
casteth  He  out  demons."  Their  charge  resolved  itself 
into  this:  the  god  of  idolatry  is  the  source  of  the  power 
of  Christ.  Of  course,  to  believe  any  such  statement  it 
is  necessary  to  deny  the  validity  of  the  words  of  Christ. 
He  has  repeatedly  spoken  to  His  audiences  and  in  pri- 
vate concerning  His  relationship  to  the  Father  and  His 
derivation  of  power  from  Him.  Now  the  leaders  of  the 
people  have  seen  the  signs  of  Christ.  In  fact,  His  signs 
have  called  forth  their  words.  They  have  been  com- 
pelled to  acknowledge  the  reality  of  those  signs.  They 
acknowledge  the  signs,  but  deny  the  truthfulness  of 
Christ.  They  voluntarily  and  repeatedly  charge  Him 
with  falsehood.  We  must  understand  this  phase  of  the 
situation,  and  as  we  do  the  language  of  Christ  "ye  are 
liars,"  with  emphasis  upon  the  pronoun,  becomes  a  tem- 
pered apology  rather  than  an  impassioned  outburst. 
Nicodemus  acknowledges  that  if  the  signs  stand  the 
charge  falls,  for  they  in  themselves  prove  Him  to  be  a 
teacher  sent  from  God.  Was  there  not  in  the  very 
charge  an  intimation  of  their  belief  in  the  divinity  of 
Christ?  Doing  the  signs  He  did  He  was  no  ordinary 
mortal.  If  His  authority  did  not  take  its  rise  in  God, 
He  must  Himself  be  a  god,  a  false  god,  according  to  their 
reasoning,  but  nevertheless  a  god.  It  is  important  to 
bear  in  mind  that  even  the  enemies  of  Christ  realize  they 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  191 

must,  in  order  to  satisfy  their  age,  find  a  source  of  power 
in  Christ  which  is  distinctly  more  than  and  removed  from 
the  human  side. 

It  is  interesting,  in  the  second  place,  to  consider  the  ap- 
plication of  this  power  which  so  disconcerted  the  leaders 
of  the  people.  The  power  of  Jesus  Christ  was  applied 
in  order  that  He  might  create  a  new  society  and  His 
method  of  creating  a  new  society  was  to  reach  the  indi- 
vidual and  His  effort  to  reach  the  individual  did  not  con- 
centrate upon  any  one  class,  but  included  all  classes. 
Thus,  for  instance.  He  applies  that  power  in  calling  men 
away  from  their  nets  and  their  labor  that  they  may  fol- 
low Him  and  they  obey.  The  power  which  the  Father 
gave  to  the  Son  is  the  power  of  attraction.  Men  do  not 
shrink  from  Him.  Some  of  them,  no  doubt,  wished  to 
do  so,  but  they  could  not.  There  was  something  there 
that  held  them,,  something  that  told  them  at  last  a  great 
need  in  their  lives  was  to  be  fulfilled.  Imagine  the  power 
required  to  draw  the  impulsive  Peter  from  his  leader- 
ship to  discipleship ;  imagine  the  power  required  to  draw 
the  brooding,  melancholy,  doubting  Thomas  out  of  him- 
self, compelling  him  to  think  other  thoughts  than  those 
of  despair.  Imagine  the  power  required  to  draw  men  to 
Him  at  night  or  to  attract  women  whose  lives  have  been 
pure  and  women  whose  lives  have  not  always  reflected 
the  highest  virtues  of  womanhood.  Imagine  the  equal 
power  of  attracting  little  children  and  men  whose  rigor- 
ous, ascetic  lives  have  made  them  entirely  forgetful  of 
the  realm  of  childhood,  hence  unfit  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God. 

This  power  of  attraction  asserted  itself  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  persons  brought  to  Him  their  sick.  Surely 
at  no  time  do  we  reflect  greater  dependence  upon  a  power 
not  our  own  than  when  standing  by  the  bedside  of  those 
whom  we  love.  We  are  willing  to  sacrifice  everything 
for  them,  and  yet  realize  how  vain  this  very  desire  is. 


192  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

The  very  discussion  concerning  the  source  of  Christ's 
power  in  which  we  are  engaged  was  brought  on  because 
Jesus  was  casting  out  a  demon  that  was  dumb.  Of 
course,  He  was  successful  in  driving  out  this  demon,  per- 
mitting the  man  who  was  afflicted  but  a  moment  before 
to  speak,  which  caused  the  multitudes  to  marvel  and  the 
leaders  to  utter  various  conjectures,  all  of  them  attempts 
to  minimize  or  neutralize  the  influence  of  Christ  with 
the  multitudes.  In  the  instance  before  us  the  inability 
of  the  man  to  speak  is  directly  associated  with  the  pos- 
session of  a  demon  or  an  evil  spirit.  Imagine,  once  more, 
the  Savior  of  men  attracted  to  persons  infirm,  disabled, 
diseased,  ostracized  from  society,  carrying  a  demon  about 
with  them.  The  power  of  Jesus  Christ  is  to  be  applied 
to  the  individual.  It  is  not  applied  to  the  individual  need- 
ing no  physician,  but  to  him  whose  sin  is  manifest  to 
himself  or  to  others.  And  it  is  applied  for  the  purpose 
of  relieving  man  of  this  great  burden.  In  no  way  can 
Christ  render  a  greater  service  to  you  than  by  driving 
from  your  life  the  evil  spirit  who  is  hovering  over  you, 
asserting  his  sway,  not  necessarily  in  depriving  you  of 
speech,  but  perhaps  in  having  taken  from  you  something 
pertaining  to  the  invisible  realm,  something  belonging  to 
your  spiritual  life.  The  "Lord  have  mercy  upon  us" 
rendered  as  often  as  we  assemble  for  our  morning  wor- 
ship must  be  converted  into  a  very  personal  "Lord  have 
mercy  upon  me"  ere  I  can  say  "Lord  have  mercy  upon 
us".  For  there  is  dwelling  in  me  an  evil  spirit  who  can- 
not be  exorcised  by  professional  exorcists  of  the  Jewish 
or  Christian  Science  or  any  other  type,  but  only  by  Christ. 

In  speaking  of  the  secret  of  Christ's  power,  it  is  essen- 
tial to  distinguish  between  the  power  of  Christ  and  that 
of  Satan,  for  it  is  important  that  we  should  know  some- 
thing of  this  difference. 

The  scribes  would  associate  the  power  of  Christ  with 
that  of  Beelzebub.     Christ  says  to  them  they  are  mis- 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  1^3 

taken  in  this  premise.     Beelzebub  is  no  separate  god,  no 
demon  working  individually  and  alone,  but  Beelzebub  is 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  darkness.     Therefore,  Christ  is 
constrained  to  say  in  answer  to  the  criticism  that  by 
Beelzebub,    the    prince   of    demons,    he    is   casting   out 
demons:     "Every    kingdom    divided    against    itself    is 
brought  to  desolation;  and  a  house  divided  against  a 
house  falleth.    And  if  Satan  also  is  divided  against  him- 
self, how  shall  his  kingdom  stand,  because  ye  say  that  by 
Beelzebub  I  cast  out  demons?"     In  other  words,  these 
critics  of  Jesus  were  either  beating  about  the  bush,  real- 
izing the  danger  of  coming  out  openly  in  their  denuncia- 
tion of  Christ,  or  they  did  not  realize  the  miechanism  or 
the  power  of  the  satanic  realm.     Perhaps  both  these  rea- 
sons are  valid,  for  they  certainly  were  afraid  of  the  mul- 
titudes and  they  were  equally  blind  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  power  of  Satan.    No  one  can  conceive  the  greatness 
of  Christ's  power  who  has  not  followed  the  reasoning  of 
Christ  concerning  Satan's  power.     That  Beelzebub,  the 
prince  of  idolatry,  is  but  one  of  many  princes,  all  of 
whom  are  subordinate  to  a  king  whose  realm  and  re- 
sources, whose  princes  and  retainers,  whose  plans  and 
stratagems  are  beyond  the  power  of  the  human  mind  to 
fathom  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
at  this  point,  especially  in  the  parable  which  He  utters 
to  set  forth  the  contrast  between  the  two  realms.    Jesus 
would  say,  you  cannot  divide  the  Kingdom  of  God  and 
you  cannot  divide  the  kingdom  of  Satan.     "He  that  is 
not  with  me  is  against  me ;  and  he  that  gathereth  not  with 
me  scattereth."    It  is  the  case  of  the  strong  man  and  the 
stronger  man,  the  regents  in  realms  which  can  never  be 
co-ordinated  and  which  cannot  indefinitely  continue  their 
independent  existence  in  the  heart  of  any  man.    The  un- 
clean spirit  who  is  driven  out  of  man  is  here  sometimes 
referred  to  as  the  spirit  of  idolatry,  which  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  driven  from  Israel  by  the  leaders  of  the  peo- 


194  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

pie.  This  spirit  going  about,  unwilling  to  abide  where 
he  cannot  do  some  very  vital  mischief,  and  recognizing 
that  nowhere  is  he  more  needed  by  Satan  in  the  conflict 
of  the  two  kingdoms  than  in  his  encounter  with  those 
who  believe  in  the  true  God,  goes  back,  seeking  to  be  re- 
instated, but  he  finds  there  are  no  sympathies  for  him,  no 
real  desire  to  accord  him  a  place;  there  is  no  possibility 
of  serving  his  master,  Satan,  single-handed.  Instead  of 
giving  up  the  contest,  as  he  would  do,  if  there  were  no 
inter-dependence  in  Satan's  kingdom,  he  goeth  and  taketh 
to  him  seven  other  spirits  more  evil  than  himself,  spirits 
which  Israel  does  not  recognize  as  the  spirits  of  Satan, 
pride,  injustice,  lust,  why  not  endeavor  to  construct  a 
catalogue  for  yourself  from,  your  knowledge  of  this  king- 
dom as  it  is  portrayed  in  Holy  Scripture?  And  thus 
Christ  would  say  to  these  opponents  as  He  would  be  con- 
strained to  say  to  us,  there  is  a  power  inherent  in  this 
kingdom  of  darkness  which  is  attacking  you  which  is 
greater  than  you  are,  unfathomed  by  you,  untelligible  to 
you,  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  There  is  a  greater  desire 
on  the  part  of  those  who  serve  in  the  realm  of  Satan  than 
on  the  part  of  those  who  serve  in  the  realm  of  God  to  co- 
ordinate forces,  to  work  harmoniously,  to  wield  the  en- 
gines of  destruction  in  a  far  more  effective  manner  than 
is  employed  by  the  children  of  the  kingdom  in  acting  as 
light-bearers.  The  overwhelming  power  of  Christ  is  again 
manifest  in  its  ability  to  crush  Satan  single-handed.  On 
the  one  hand,  you  have  an  array  of  demons,  of  princes, 
of  Satanic  agencies  in  the  spirit  world  and  in  the  world 
of  human  beings,  here  you  have  the  power  of  darkness 
seated  in  high  places ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  Son  of  God 
entering  this  world  to  battle  with  this  great  army. 

The  assertion  of  Christ's  power  in  His  day  led  to 
antagonism  of  the  most  bitter  sort  ending  in  death.  Shall 
His  assertion  of  power  over  our  hearts  and  lives  result 
in  hatred  and  enmity,  in  scoffing  and  revilement,  or  shall 


THIRD  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  195 

it  result  in  something  other  than  that?  The  secret  of 
Christ's  power  is  His  divine  love.  The  resultant  of  that 
power  in  our  lives  must  be  written  in  terms  of  loyalty. 
The  Lenten  season,  with  its  story  of  conflict,  of  sacri- 
fices, of  suffering  and  of  death,  is  surely  a  most  fitting 
time  in  which  we  shall  assert  our  loyalty  anew,  our  loyalty 
not  to  Satan  and  his  kingdom,  but  our  loyalty  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God. 


XXIV. 
FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT. 

John  6 :  26. 

"Jesus  answered  them)  and  said  verily,  verily  I  say  unto  you  yc 
seek  me,  not  because  ye  saw  signs,  but  because  ye  ate  of  the  loaves 
and  were  filled.  Work  not  for  the  food  which  perisheth,  but  for  the 
food  which  abideth  unto  eternal  life;  which  the  Son  of  man  shall 
give  unto  you." 

In  the  sixth  chapter  of  his  gospel  John  suddenly  trans- 
ports us  from  Jerusalem  where  we  tarried  as  we  read 
the  fifth  chapter  to  Galilee.  We  are  to  assume  that  prac- 
tically a  year  has  passed  in  the  interim.  The  story  of  the 
feeding  of  the  five  thousand  is  told  by  John  because  he 
must  narrate  it  in  order  to  make  his  subsequent  report 
more  intelligible,  otherwise  it  is  hardly  likely  that  he 
would  have  told  a  story  narrated  by  the  other  evangelists, 
at  least  he  is  not  in  the  habit  of  repeating  the  stories  al- 
ready told  by  Matthew  and  Mark  and  Luke.  John  tells 
us  that  Jesus  left  the  western  shore  of  the  lake  of  Galilee 
and  crossed  over  to  the  other  side.  He  did  not  cross  over 
alone.  His  disciples  went  with  Him  and  a  great  con- 
course of  people  who  had  seen  His  miracles  and  were 
anxious  to  see  more  followed  after  Him.  They  undoubt- 
edly were  a  little  late  in  arriving,  for  when  they  came  to 
Him  Jesus  had  already  ascended  the  hillside,  where  He 
communed  with  His  disciples.  In  the  meantime  other 
bands  of  pilgrims  may  have  drawn  near,  for  the  feast  was 
close  at  hand  and  great  caravans  were  beginning  to  move 
toward  Jerusalem.  As  these  separate  bands  joined  forces 
in  the  presence  of  Jesus  it  was  found  there  were  thou- 
sands of  people  present,  five  thousand  we  are  told,  not 

196 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT         197 

counting  the  women  and  the  children.  Jesus  turns  to 
Philip,  the  prudent,  thoughtful,  somewhat  unbelieving 
disciple,  and  asks  him  how  they  are  to  satisfy  the  need, 
the  temporal  need  of  this  great  host.  Philip  at  once  sets 
about  the  task  of  numbers  and  informs  Jesus  that  the 
total  amount  in  the  treasury  is  between  thirty  and  forty 
dollars,  that  this  amount  is  scarcely  sufficient  to  buy 
food  for  even  a  very  scant  meal  for  five  thousand  people 
and  the  five  thousand,  of  course,  do  not  include  the 
women  and  the  children.  Andrew  rather  adds  to  the 
predicament  by  saying  that  there  is  only  one  lad  in  sight 
who  has  bread  and  fishes  for  sale,  and  his  whole  store  is, 
of  course,  too  insignificant  to  merit  serious  attention.  In 
the  face  of  such  reasoning  it  speaks  well  for  the  disciples 
and  better  for  their  Lord  that  they  were  willing  to  do  as 
He  bade  them  and  see  that  the  people  were  seated.  The 
secret  of  the  story,  the  secret  of  the  miracle  lies  in  the 
blessing  asked  by  Christ  before  the  distribution  of  the 
food.  And  this  leads  us  to  ask,  by  way  of  interjection, 
would  not  our  food  go  farther,  would  not  our  needs  be 
more  easily  satisfied,  would  not  our  lives  be  richer  and 
happier  and  better  if  our  prayers  were  more  real?  How 
many  blessings  of  today,  repeated  at  table  in  a  desultory 
manner,  are  real  blessings?  The  broken  pieces  gathered 
up  after  the  repast  are  the  evidence  of  the  bounty  of  God, 
evidences  that  His  baskets  are  never  empty,  evidences 
that  there  is  enough  for  tomorrow,  which  may  be  had 
for  the  asking. 

The  people  had  come  to  Jesus  because  of  the  signs 
which  He  employed  in  healing  their  sick.  They  were 
again  to  follow  Him  and  find  Him  because  of  this  more 
recent  sign  in  giving  them  bread.  The  story  is  suggestive 
of  a  very  important  lesson  of  our  own  day  conveyed  to 
us  by 

The  Bread-line  of  the  World. 


198  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

A  few  days  ago  a  sight  natural  to  those  who  live  in  cer- 
tain sections  of  our  great  city  greeted  my  eyes.  At  a 
given  signal  an  army  of  men  seemed  to  emerge  from  hid- 
den recesses,  the  army  formed  in  double  file  and,  in  a 
peaceful,  orderly  manner,  waited  for  the  opening  of  a 
door  of  hope,  a  door  which  was  to  lead  them  into  a  sanc- 
tuary, and  in  this  sanctuary,  while  listening  to  the  read- 
ing of  the  Word  of  God,  and  the  preaching  of  that  Word, 
this  great  army  was  to  obtain  food  for  the  body  as  well 
as  for  the  soul.  Perhaps  the  primary  prompting  of  that 
body  of  men  was  the  need  for  food  and  the  knowledge 
that  in  this  place  they  were  to  obtain  it.  The  words  of 
Jesus,  addressed  to  the  multitude  which  followed  Him 
from  the  eastern  to  the  western  shore  of  the  lake  of 
Tiberias,  would  undoubtedly  apply  to  this  gathering  of 
men  as  it  did  to  those  who  heard  the  original  utterance: 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  ye  seek  me  not  because  ye 
saw  signs,  but  because  ye  ate  of  the  loaves  and  were  filled. 
Work  not  for  the  food  which  perisheth,  but  for  the  food 
which  abideth  unto  eternal  life,  which  the  Son  of  man 
shall  give  unto  you."  The  incident  just  narrated  and 
happening  day  by  day  in  our  city  is  mentioned  first  in 
order  that  you  may  realize  the  similarity  of  purely  human 
conditions  in  every  age  of  the  world's  history. 

We  might,  if  we  had  time,  spend  the  rest  of  the  day 
in  speaking  of  the  bread-line  in  the  history  of  the  world, 
the  bread-line  inaugurated  in  the  garden  of  Eden  when, 
after  man's  fall,  God  said  to  him:  "Because  thou  hast 
hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten 
of  the  tree  of  which  I  commanded  thee,  saying.  Thou 
shalt  not  eat  of  it:  cursed  is  the  ground  for  thy  sake; 
in  toil  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life;  thorns 
also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee;  and  thou 
shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field;  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face 
shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou  return  unto  the  ground ; 
for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken:   for  dust  thou  art,  and 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  199 

unto  dust  shalt  thou  return."  We  are  very  apt  in  our 
day  and  generation  to  speak  of  man's  spiritual  status  as 
conditioned  very  largely  by  the  satisfaction  of  his  tem- 
poral needs,  but  may  we  never  forget  that  man's  temporal 
needs  were  primarily  the  resultant  of  man's  disobedience 
to  God  in  denying  the  spiritual  needs  which  were  to  be 
the  very  center  of  his  life.  The  bread-line  of  the  world 
and  the  bread-line  of  the  Kingdom:  of  God  are  again 
brought  into  contrast  as  "Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more 
excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain,"  as  Noah  "prepared  an  ark 
to  the  saving  of  his  house,"  as  Abraham  permitted  Lot 
to  wrest  from  him  a  fruitful  vale.  Observe,  if  you 
please,  the  great  bread-line,  in  which  are  included  the  sons 
of  Jacob,  as  it  moves  from  Canaan  into  Egypt  and  im- 
ploringly seeks  to  obtain  from  Pharaoh  the  bread  so 
much  needed  to  tide  over  a  very  grievous  famine.  Is 
there  not  in  this  incident  a  blending  of  temporal  and 
spiritual  blessing  as  the  brethren  of  Joseph  are  brought 
to  realize  their  sinfulness  and  their  sole  hope  of  forgive- 
ness in  the  mercy  of  the  God  who  has  satisfied  their  tem^ 
poral  needs?  Observe,  if  you  please,  the  great  bread-line 
in  the  desert,  as  the  children  of  Israel  go  out  early  each 
morning  to  gather  the  manna  provided  by  the  God  who  is 
leading  them.  Observe  this  same  people  bringing  their 
vessels  to  the  rock  which  has  been  smitten  and  from 
which  flows  a  stream  for  the  quenching  of  their  thirst. 
The  ability  and  acumen  of  the  individual  Israelite  is  ever 
contrasted  with  the  helplessness  of  the  nation  and  the 
necessity  on  the  part  of  God  to  provide  food  for  a  bread- 
line co-extensive  with  the  bounds  of  the  nation.  "As 
sheep  without  a  shepherd"  that  well  expresses  the  status 
of  the  nation  and  it  is  in  this  condition  that  Jesus  finds 
them.  It  is  in  this  condition  He  sees  them  wandering 
somewhat  aimlessly  through  the  desert  on  their  way  to 
the  Holy  City,  hoping  there  to  satisfy  their  hunger  and 
thirst. 


200  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Over  against  this  bread  line  is  He  Who  has  no 
home,  no  individual  purse,  no  common  purse  sufficient  for 
the  morrow,  no  hope  of  ever  being  ranked  with  the  rich 
men  of  His  age,  and  yet  able  in  calm  assurance  and  faith 
to  bid  the  disciples  seat  this  multitude  in  order  that  He 
may  open  the  doors  of  His  Father's  granary  and,  enter- 
ing, bring  forth  a  supply  abundant  for  each  and  every 
one  of  them.  Think  of  holding  a  great  line  like  that  in 
check,  think  of  satisfying  the  wants  of  that  line,  think  of 
constraining  the  men  and  women  and  children  gathered 
there  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem  to  turn  back  again  from 
their  course  to  see  a  bit  more  of  this  King,  to  enjoy  a 
bit  more  of  His  bounty.  Friends,  as  the  bread-line  con- 
tinued from  the  days  of  our  first  parents  to  the  days  of 
Jesus,  it  has  continued  from  His  day  to  our  own.  The 
cry  of  the  masses  for  bread  in  the  streets  of  ancient  Rome 
is  very  much  akin  to  the  cry  of  the  masses  of  today  in 
the  streets  of  London  and  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
Thank  God  that  the  influence  and  example  of  Jesus  are 
manifest  in  our  city  and  that  our  people  have  arisen  and 
are  increasingly  arising  to  the  need  round  about  them. 
The  need,  the  temporal  need  of  each  person  in  that  great 
crowd  round  about  Jesus  was  thought  of  in  Jesus'  prayer 
and  answered  in  the  Father's  blessing.  The  temporal 
needs  of  all  persons  in  our  great  city  will  be  met  as  we 
discriminatingly,  rather  than  abstractly,  pray  to  the 
Father  and  as  we  each  and  every  one  of  us  seek  to  make 
ourselves  responsible  for  the  putting  upon  his  or  her  feet 
of  some  one  child  of  God.  We  are  too  often  interested 
in  a  cause  instead  of  being  interested  in  individual  souls. 

Is  it  not  important  that  we  should  turn  from  the  story 
of  the  literal  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  to  the  applica- 
tion of  this  feeding  so  explicitly  explained  in  this  sixth 
chapter  of  the  gospel  of  John?  After  the  satisfaction  of 
the  hunger  of  these  many  people  Jesus  withdrew  to  the 
hillside  alone  to  engage  in  prayer.     He  dismissed  His 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  aoi 

disciples,  for  there  were  moments  when  even  they  could 
not  enter  into  the  meaning  of  Jesus'  life.  He  may  have 
observed  their  boat  putting  out  as  He  quietly  withdrew 
into  the  silent  fastness  of  the  hills  of  God.  During  the 
watches  of  the  night  the  distance  between  Jesus  and  the 
Father  was  growing  less.  Early,  very  early,  in  the  morn- 
ing He  descended  from  His  solitary  mount  and  pursued 
the  boat  now  almost  at  the  other  side  of  the  lake. 
Silencing  their  momentary  fear,  as  they  believe  they  are 
looking  upon  an  apparition,  Jesus  joins  them  and  goes 
with  them  at  the  hour  of  prayer  on  the  morrow  into  the 
synagogue  at  Capernaum  or  a  similar  house  of  worship 
and  instruction  nearby.  There  the  crowds  surge  about 
Him.  There  He  is  constrained  to  declare  His  conscious- 
ness of  the  reason  which  has  prompted  their  approach. 
They  have  felt  no  real,  inward  want  to  be  near  Him. 
And  that  is  the  tragedy  in  the  religious  experiences  of 
today.  In  outward  life  there  is  a  need.  "Ye  ate  of  the 
loaves  and  were  filled"  Jesus  says  to  them.  People  join 
the  great  bread-lines  of  the  world  because  they  need 
bread.  We  feel  the  pangs  of  hunger  coming  upon  us 
and  our  dear  ones  and  we  endeavor  to  be  up  and  doing. 
We  are  willing  and  ready  to  work  for  food  which 
perisheth  because  we  have  need  of  such  food.  We  recog- 
nize the  need  of  water  for  our  parched  throats.  We 
recognize  the  need  of  new  shoes  to  take  the  place  of  the 
shoes  we  can  no  longer  wear.  We  recognize  the  need  of 
new  garments  to  take  the  place  of  those  which  have  been 
worn  threadbare.  We  recognize  the  need  of  a  new  equip- 
ment at  home,  in  the  factory,  in  the  workshop,  in  the 
office,  in  the  study,  to  supplant  an  equipment  that  is  no 
longer  sufficiently  modern  to  meet  our  needs.  We  recog- 
nize each  and  every  material  need  that  arises  in  our  daily 
life — and  we  are  blind,  absolutely  blind  to  the  spiritual 
needs  which  transcend  the  material  needs  as  the  heavens 
transcend  the  earth.     Jesus  tells  us  in  this  very  chapter 


202  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

that  God  alone  is  fully  conscious  of  man's  needs.  The 
Father  as  God,  Jesus  as  God,  knows  the  deepest  needs  of 
humanity.  Man  does  not  know  and  cannot  know  all 
things.  Man  moves  in  the  limited  world  of  his  own 
vocation.  In  being  unable  to  know  man  must  believe, 
but  in  order  to  believe  man  must  come  to  Christ,  and 
yet  the  experience  of  Christ  is  as  true  today  as  it  was 
twenty  centuries  ago — "ye  would  not."  There  is  no 
need  to  ask  God  for  a  home  because  we  have  one.  There 
is  no  need  to  say  grace  at  table  because  the  larder  is  full. 
There  is  no  need  to  ask  for  garments  because  we  have 
them.  There  is  no  need  to  ask  for  health  as  we  enjoy  it, 
and,  furthermore,  we  are  able  to  employ  a  physician. 
There  is  no  need  to  ask  for  guidance  in  our  vocational 
life.  We  simply  fit  into  a  groove  which  we  ourselves  have 
created.  There  is  no  need  to  attend  the  services  of  the 
House  of  God  because  we  can  worship  equally  well 
wherever  we  are.  Those  in  the  audience  of  Jesus  are 
endeavoring  to  convince  Jesus  that  He  is  unduly  worried 
about  some  things.  Did  not  Moses  provide  manna  when 
manna  was  needed?  That  is  their  reasoning,  a  reason- 
ing which  must  be  refuted  by  having  them  understand  it 
was  not  Moses  but  God  who  gave  them  the  manna,  the 
same  God,  by  the  way,  who  was  even  now  giving  them 
Christ.  This  utter  inability  of  the  contemporaries  of 
Jesus  to  look  out  into  the  unseen  world  is  manifest  today. 
Hence  the  admonition  of  Christ  "work  not  for  the  food 
which  perisheth,  but  for  the  food  which  abideth  unto 
eternal  life,  which  the  Son  of  man  shall  give  unto  you"  is 
an  admonition  addressed  to  the  Christians  of  today. 

The  counter-question  of  the  Jews  indicates  their  spirit 
of  mockery.  "What  workest  thou?"  Jesus  has  spoken 
to  them  of  spiritual  work.  He  has  indicated  that  He  is  a 
worker.  They  are  thinking  of  Him  as  an  itinerant 
teacher,  thinking  of  Him  as  a  man  without  a  country, 
thinking  of  Him  as  the  leader  of  a  band  of  followers, 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  203 

thinking  of  Him  as  a  person  endowed  with  power  to  such 
a  degree  there  is  no  longer  any  need  for  the  display  of 
effort.  They  cannot  see  that  Jesus  is  doing  anything 
which  may  be  termed  work.  "What  workest  thou?"  you 
can  hear  the  sneer  in  their  words  and  you  are  reminded 
of  these  same  words  addressed  to  many  servants  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Jesus  answers  their  question  by  indicating  to 
them  that  He  is  the  bread  of  life.  Jesus  answers  their 
question  by  setting  forth  the  importance  of  this  other 
bread-line,  consisting  of  those  who  are  seeking  for  food 
which  will  not  perish.  They  are  willing  to  follow  Jesus 
outwardly  if  Jesus  will  declare  Himself  publicly  to  be 
their  bread-king,  the  dispenser  of  temporal  food,  the 
occupant  of  a  temporal  throne.  It  is  not  difficult  for 
them  to  fit  into  a  material  universe  such  as  that.  They 
have  perhaps  already  chosen  the  offices  they  desire  to 
fill  in  this  new  realm.  The  whole  thing  is  tangible.  They 
are  anxious  to  inaugurate  the  new  reign.  Their  earthly 
hopes  are  to  be  shattered  as  Jesus  speaks  to  them  in  lan- 
guage which  is  mysterious  and  offensive  to  them,  so 
offensive  that  "many  of  his  disciples  went  back,  and 
walked  no  more  with  him." 

What  is  it  that  enables  a  man  without  an  overcoat  to 
stand  for  a  long  time  in  the  dead  of  winter  before  a 
closed  door,  the  hope  that  that  door  will  eventually  be 
opened  and  that  he  will  be  allowed  to  enter  and  that,  hav- 
ing entered,  he  will  find  within  a  warm  spot  where  he  is 
allowed  to  rest,  and  a  warm  cup  of  coffee  and  a  bit  of 
bread.  He  belongs  to  the  bread-line  of  the  world  be- 
cause he  needs  bread.  He  is  willing  to  work  for  his 
bread  by  standing  in  line  and  by  listening  to  the  service 
in  which  he  must  engage.  You  and  I,  whether  we  care 
to  admit  it  or  not,  belong  to  the  spiritual  bread-line  of 
the  world.  We  need  food  and  we  need  Christ  as  our 
food.  Some  of  us  are  unwilling  to  acknowledge  our 
need.     We  are  wasting  the  precious  moments  God  has 


204  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

given  us  and  while  we  are  debating  the  question  others 
take  the  places  we  might  have  had.  We  are  pushed 
back  farther  and  farther.  Time  and  again  we  make  up 
our  minds  to  hold  our  place  in  the  line.  Time  and  again 
we  emerge  from  it  as  others  press  on.  Dear  friends, 
when  Jesus  said  'T  am  the  bread  of  life,"  He  was  saying 
nothing  less  and  nothing  more  than  that  He  is  God  and 
that  as  God  He  is  abundantly  able  to  sustain  us  by  im- 
parting Himself  to  us.  The  sustenance  is  for  time  and 
eternity.  This  sustenance  by  virtue  of  the  sufficiency  of 
this  bread  is  to  protect  you  from  your  lower  satanic 
desires,  from  the  falsehoods  you  otherwise  would  tell, 
from  the  carnal  desires  you  otherwise  would  cherish, 
from  the  lack  of  love  you  would  otherwise  display.  This 
sustenance  will  make  it  possible  for  you  to  bear  and  fore- 
bear and  your  life  thus  transformed  will  be  what  it  is  be- 
cause of  your  coming  to  Jesus  and  because  of  your  faith 
in  Him. 


XXV. 
FIFTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT. 

John  8:  46. 

"Which  of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?    If  I  say  truth,  why  do  ye 
not  believe  me?" 

The  verse  chosen  as  the  basis  of  our  meditation  this 
morning  is  a  javelin  thrust  into  the  very  thick  of  an  en- 
counter between  falsehood  and  truth,  false  religion  and 
true  religion,  life  and  death.  On  the  one  hand  we  have 
the  forces  of  truth  and  life  represented  by  and  personified 
in  Christ,  on  the  other  the  army  of  sin  and  death  mustered 
from  amongst  the  very  leaders  of  the  people.  Christ,  the 
captain  of  our  salvation,  has  sent  His  terms  of  surrender 
to  the  camp  of  the  adversary  in  a  message  pregnant  with 
love  and  sympathy,  'T  am  the  light  of  the  world ;  he  that 
followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  the  darkness,  but  shall 
have  the  light  of  life.  .  .  .  If  ye  abide  in  my  word, 
then  are  ye  truly  my  disciples ;  and  ye  shall  know  the  truth 
and  the  truth  shall  make  you  free."  Words  such  as  these 
must  have  come  with  startling  force  and  as  a  very  serious 
shock  to  men  who  believed  themselves,  because  of  their 
heritage  as  the  children  of  Abraham,  to  be  the  light  of 
the  world,  who  believed  themselves  to  have  been  elected 
as  guardians  of  the  truth,  hence  free.  Imagine  these 
leaders  of  the  people  suddenly  checked  in  their  career,  and 
told  in  very  unequivocal  language:  "Ye  are  of  your 
father  the  devil,  and  the  lusts  of  your  father  it  is  your 
will  to  do.  He  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning,  and 
standeth  not  in  the  truth,  because  there  is  no  truth  in 
him."  The  difficulty  with  these  leaders  of  the  people 
was  that  their  program  lay  buried  in  the  past.     Their 

205 


2o6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

plan  of  action  was  constructed  upon  the  precepts  of  the 
past.  Their  exemplars  were  the  men  of  a  very  distant 
past.  Their  program  was  neither  constructive  nor  pro- 
gressive. In  taking  a  horoscope  of  the  past  they  did  not 
observe  the  important  signs  of  coming  events,  the  fore- 
shadowing of  the  fulfilment  of  days,  the  coming  of  the 
Kingdom,  the  coming  of  the  King.  Abraham  meant 
more  than  Christ  to  these  blind  leaders  of  the  Wind.  They 
could  not  see  that  allegiance  to  Abraham'  means  also 
allegiance  to  Him  who  said:  "Before  Abraham  was,  I 
am."  They  were  astonished  in  being  told  that  though 
they  might  be  the  children  of  Abraham  after  the  flesh, 
they  were  not  the  spiritual  children  of  Abraham  because 
they  had  neither  the  faith  of  Abraham,  which  asserted 
itself  in  his  acceptance  of  God's  pledge  for  the  future,  nor 
did  they  do  the  works  of  Abraham. 

The  exchange  of  opinions  between  Jesus  and  these 
leaders  of  the  people  reveals  their  real  narrowness  and 
the  illogical  attitude  assumed  by  them.  After  all,  a  test 
may  be  the  proper  means  of  determining  the  relative 
value  of  the  assertions  of  the  opponents.  Christ  decides 
upon  this  course  of  procedure  as  He  asks  them:  "Which 
of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?"  and  receiving  no  answer, 
He  adds:  "If  I  say  truth,  why  do  ye  not  believe  me?" 
The  word  "convicteth"  employed  in  the  revised  version 
is  stronger  than  the  word  "convinceth"  employed  in  the 
authorized  version.  According  to  human  standards,  I 
may  never  be  convinced  of  my  wrongdoing  because  of 
stubbornness  or  narrowness  of  vision,  because  I  cannot 
be  persuaded  to  see  things  as  others  see  them.  The 
Savior,  though  He  is  the  truth  incarnate,  does  not  care  to 
have  anyone  place  Him  on  this  platform,  and  afterward 
say:  The  test  was  unfair.  It  was  but  natural  that  He 
should  not  permit  Himself  to  be  convinced  of  wrong- 
doing.' Christ  anticipates  such  reasoning  by  boldly  ask- 
ing 'which  of  you  can  hold  me  guilty  of  wrongdoing  by 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  207 

any  demonstrable  proof?'     In  so  saying  He  appeals  to 
reJson  and  forever  challenges  the  many  vam  appeals  of 
those  who  are  out  of  sympathy  with  Christianity  to  the 
unreasonableness  of  our  faith.    There  must  be  faith  and 
a  faith  centering  in  sinless  personality  is  certainly  worth 
sor^ething.     There  is,  hence,  involved  in  the  two  ques- 
tions of  Christ,  an  apology  of  Christianity  which  is  re- 
markably telling.     Christ  stands  squarely  for  a  reason- 
able faith.    As  He  is  life  and  truth,  He  would  have  His 
followers  approximate  His  state.    The  leaders  whom  He 
Is  addressing  can  be  exponents  of  life  and  truth  only  a. 
thev  forsake  the  darkness  which  is  not  consonant  with 
light,  their  own  false  teachings  which  are  not  in  accord 
with'the  word  in  which  they  must  abide. 

Sin,  according  to  the  interpretation  of  Jesus,  is  per- 
sonal hostility  to  the  will  of  God.     If  we  accept  this 
definition  as  our  own,  two  consequences  emerge.     iNo 
human  being  other  than  Christ  can  possibly  be  said  to 
be  without  sin  and  Christ  cannot  possibly  be  said  to  be 
guilty  of  sin.     If  we  accept  this  defimtion  0/  sin,  can 
we  possibly  speak  of  a  spring-tide  of  sin?     Was  there 
any  particular  moment  in  your  nxature  life  when  sin  was 
born?    Is  not  the  cry  of  the  infant,  other  than  its  cry  of 
pain,  an  utterance  of  its  hostility  to  the   will  of   the 
parent?     And  is  not  the  parent  the  representative  of 
God  for  this  infant?     Hence  is  not  the  cry  of  rebeUion 
against  the  misunderstood  counsels  of  the  parent  a  cry 
of  rebellion  against  God?     Surely  those  who  have  come 
into  contact  with  infant  life  must  have  been  amazed  at 
times  because  of  the  strong  utterances  of  protest,  the 
bitter  struggles,  the  unwillingness  to  surrender  a  desire, 
all  of  which  clearly  point  to  the  presence  of  sm  which  is 
not  being  slowly  evolved  in  the  child,  but  depends  for 
nourishment  on  the  very  life  roots. 

There  is  no  spring-tide  of  sin.    There  was,  once  upon 
a  time,  when  the  apple,  not  yet  touched,  was  still  hang- 


2o8  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

ing  upon  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
while  man,  tempted  to  take  it,  stood  in  doubt  while  listen- 
ing to  the  voice  of  another  than  God.  That  was  the 
spring-tide  of  sin,  experienced  by  our  first  parents.  You 
and  I  and  all  others  born  into  this  world  since  that 
moment  have  never  beheld  the  spring-tide  of  sin.  The 
punishment  meted  out  to  the  child  betrays  the  fact  that 
we  have  arrived  at  sin's  summer  long  ere  the  summer  of 
life  dawns  for  us. 

And  what,  we  ask,  are  the  marks  of  sin?  Is  there 
any  way  in  which  we  can  recognize  evil?  The  skeptic 
says:  "How  could  our  first  parents  have  distinguished 
good  from  evil  before  tasting  of  the  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil?"  Ah,  yes,  there  you  have  it! 
Man  must  know  by  subjecting  everything  to  test  and 
experiment.  The  age  of  authority  has  not  received  its 
first  hostile  onslaught  in  our  century,  but  the  age  of 
authority  received  its  first  wound  when  man,  in  his 
disobedience,  denied  the  sovereignty  of  God,  took  of  the 
apple,  ate,  and  his  eyes  were  opened — opened  to  what? 
Life  and  immortality?  no;  nakedness,  sin  and  death. 
What  are  the  marks  of  sin?  Disobedience  and  the  spirit 
of  rebellion,  cowardice  and  the  spirit  of  retreat,  unclean- 
ness  and  its  artificial  resultants,  illness  and  the  process 
of  decay,  death  and  eternal  lamentation. 

But  after  all,  the  most  harrowing  influence  of  sin  is 
in  its  inter-relationship  with  death.  When  once  sin  has 
begun  its  sway  in  the  system  there  is  absolutely  no 
effective  human  remedy.  It  simply  precipitates  itself 
from  ledge  to  ledge  until  it  has  fallen  into  the  abyss  from 
which  it  cannot  recover  itself.  Each  and  every  one  of  us, 
children  of  the  first  Adam,  are  subject  to  sin  and  its 
consequence — death.  In  view  of  the  universality  of  sin 
and  death,  is  not  the  challenge  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  to 
convict  Him  of  sin,  if  that  be  possible,  very  astounding? 
Here  are  men  in  whose  proximity  He  lives,  men  of  in- 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  209 

telligence,  men  who  are  very  much  prejudiced  against 
Him,  men  who  have  every  facility  to  investigate  His 
ancestry,  His  family,  His  words  and  His  works,  and  to 
them  the  challenge  is  issued.  Their  inability  to  lay  the 
finger  upon  any  direct  violation  of  God's  law  was  not 
due  to  reticence  or  seclusiveness  on  the  part  of  Him 
whose  whole  life  was  an  open  book.  No  man  was  ever 
more  active  than  Jesus.  He  of  whom  Matthew  reports 
that  multitudes  brought  their  sick  to  Him  in  the  evening, 
after  a  full  day  of  toil,  He  of  whom  the  evangelists 
report  that  He  could  not  be  hid  from  the  multitudes,  He 
whose  preaching  was  an  everyday  occurrence,  could  not 
very  well  be  accused  of  hiding  His  real  self  from  the 
eyes  of  others.  If  ever  any  man  stood  subject  to  the 
direct  rays  of  a  searching  criticism,  that  man  was  Jesus, 
and  yet  He  and  He  alone  is  able  to  challenge  the  world 
to  convict  Him  of  sin,  because  He  and  He  alone  has  com- 
pletely subjected  Himself  to  His  Father's  will  even  unto 
death.  Do  you  imagine  that  the  centuries  intervening 
between  the  day  on  which  the  challenge  was  uttered  and 
this  have  been  altogether  without  men  whose  endeavor 
it  has  been  to  prove  the  challenge  fallacious?  And  yet 
Christ  asks  the  question  now  as  He  asked  it  then,  "Which 
of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin?"  And  receiving  no 
answer  He  very  properly  asks,  "If  I  say  truth,  why  do  ye 
not  believe  me  ?" 

The  life  of  which  this  Lenten  season  testifies  is  some- 
thing that  does  not  exist  nor  can  it  be  had  apart  from 
God.  And  this  life  in  God  must  be  mediated  by  Christ. 
What  is  this  life  in  God  through  Christ?  It  is  not  meat 
and  drink.  Christ  says  distinctly:  "The  life  is  more  than 
food."  He  continues:  "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth."  He  thus 
places  the  ban  upon  both  the  purely  physical  life  as  con- 
ceived by  the  Hebrew  mind  and  the  economic  life  of  the 
rulers  of  the  people.   In  His  analysis  of  the  subject,  Christ 


210  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

thus  proceeds  to  a  moral  consideration  and  advances  be- 
yond that  to  one  that  is  distinctively  spiritual.  "He  that 
findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth  his  Ufe  for 
my  sake  shall  find  it."  According  to  the  teaching  of 
Christ,  life  is  something  that  begins  in  Him  and  endures 
forever.  John  puts  this  concretely  in  his  testimony  con- 
cerning Christ:  "In  Him  was  life."  And,  having  set  forth 
the  story  of  his  Master,  he  concludes  the  narrative  long 
before  he  has  exhausted  the  material  at  his  disposal, 
asserting  that  "these  things  are  written  that  ye  may  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God ;  and  that 
believing  ye  may  have  life  in  His  name."  How  then, 
we  ask,  are  we  made  participants  of  this  life  which  He 
has  so  willingly  and  abundantly  communicated  to  us 
through  His  death  and  resurrection  ?  You  remember  the 
story  of  the  prodigal  son,  the  boy  who  left  his  father's 
home,  went  out  into  the  world,  sank  lower  and  lower  in 
the  scale  of  existence,  until  finally  he  was  an  outcast. 
It  was  in  this  condition,  however,  that  the  real  manhood 
of  the  youth  conquered.  His  return  was  not  prompted 
by  pride,  for  pride  would  naturally  have  kept  him  from 
returning  to  be  laughed  at  and  insulted  by  his  former 
friends.  A  twofold  recognition  prompted  his  return; 
first  that  life,  true  life,  could  be  regained  and  lived  only 
in  his  father's  home  and  secondly,  the  fact  that  this  life 
could  be  had  if  he  was  willing  to  confess  his  wrongdoing 
and  desist  therefrom.  He  wished  to  be  reinstated.  He 
desired  life  rather  than  the  mockery  of  life  to  which 
he  was  subject.  He  was  man  enough  to  be  willing  to 
pay  something  for  it.  So  he  went  back,  confessed,  and 
ere  the  confession  was  ended  called  forth  from  the 
father's  lips  the  song  of  praise  which  laid  bare  the 
promptings  of  the  father's  heart:  "My  son  was  dead, 
but  is  alive  again."  How  many  of  us  there  are  who  are 
spiritually  dead,  who,  having  once  been  sons  or  having 
believed  ourselves  to  be  sons,  have  gone  forth  to  roam 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  IN  LENT  211 

far  from  our  Father's  home,  who  haven't  manhood  or 
womanhood  enough  to  go  back  again.  We  are  afraid 
of  an  elder  brother  who  is  certainly  very  different  from 
the  older  brother  of  the  prodigal.  We  might  be  willing 
to  return  to  the  Father's  house,  but  we  are  unwilling  to 
surrender  to  Him  who  taught  us  to  say  "our  Father." 
If  sin  is  to  be  banished  from  our  lives,  we  must  be 
wilHng  to  believe  in  Him  who  is  the  sinless  one.  It  was 
He  who  said:  "I  am  the  true  vine,  and  my  Father  is 
the  husbandman.  Every  branch  in  me  that  beareth  not 
fruit,  He  taketh  it  away ;  and  every  branch  that  beareth 
fruit.  He  cleanseth  it  that  it  may  bear  more  fruit  .  .  . 
As  the  branch  can  not  bear  fruit  of  itself,  so  neither  can 
ye,  except  ye  abide  in  me."  The  whole  teaching  of  the 
gospel  of  John  revolves  about  this  central  idea  of  life 
in  Christ.  It  is  manifest  in  the  conversations  with  Nico- 
demus,  the  Samaritan  woman,  Pilate  and  the  multitudes. 
Christ  is  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life.  He  is  the 
bread  of  life.  Christ,  not  His  teachings  nor  His  works, 
but  His  very  personality  is  this  hidden,  mysterious  thing 
called  life,  hence  the  necessity  of  believing  on  Him,  the 
sinless  one,  hence  the  unreasonableness  of  not  believing 
on  Him, 


XXVI. 
PALM  SUNDAY. 

Matthew  21 : 9. 

"Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David :  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord ;  Hosanna  in  the  highest." 

What  an  unusual  sight  the  city  of  Jerusalem  must 
have  presented  at  the  season  of  the  annual  festival  of 
Ingathering  or,  as  it  was  otherwise  known,  the  feast  of 
booths — booths  in  every  available,  normally  unoccupied 
space,  in  the  courts  of  the  temple,  round  about  the  temple, 
even  in  the  streets.  As  Israel  journeyed  to  the  Holy 
City  for  the  purpose  of  being  present  at  this  festival, 
which  was  at  once  a  reminder  of  God's  goodness  while 
His  people  journeyed  from  Egypt  to  the  promised  land 
and  a  reminder  of  His  ever-recurring  goodness  in  pro- 
viding an  abundant  harvest,  it  sang  its  songs  of  grati- 
tude, which  may  be  termed  songs  of  ascent  as  truly  as 
that  title  is  accorded  to  certain  other  psalms  used  on  the 
occasion  of  another  pilgrimage.  One  of  these  songs 
was  undoubtedly  the  ii8th  Psalm,  the  twenty-fifth  and 
twenty-sixth  verses  of  which  are  as  follows:  "Save 
now,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Jehovah;  O  Jehovah,  we  be- 
seech Thee,  send  now  prosperity.  Blessed  be  he  that 
cometh  in  the  name  of  Jehovah;  we  have  blessed  you 
out  of  the  house  of  Jehovah."  Bear  in  mind,  if  you 
please,  that  Hosanna  means  "save,  we  pray  Thee,"  or 
"save,  we  beesech  Thee,"  and  the  cry  of  the  multitude 
encircling  Jesus  on  His  last  journey  to  Jerusalem  im- 
mediately becomes  a  paraphrase  of  these  verses  of  the 
1 1 8th  Psalm,  a  paraphrase  which  becomes  vibrant  with 
meaning  as  Israel  believes  that  at  last  He  that  cometh 

212 


PALM  SUNDAY  213 

in  the  name  of  the  Lord  has  really  appeared.  And  so, 
going  up  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  passover  festival, 
Israel  sings  the  songs  of  ascent,  then  the  songs  which, 
though  they  are  designated  for  other  seasons,  have,  never- 
theless, made  their  impression  upon  a  religious  people, 
and  these  songs  culminate  in  one  song,  the  one  song  cul- 
minates in  one  refrain  of  that  one  song  as  the  people 
surrounding  Jesus  shout  rather  than  sing:  "Hosanna  to 
the  Son  of  David ;  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord;  hosanna  in  the  highest."  This  verse  has 
eaten  its  way  into  the  lives  of  Christians  who  are  ac- 
customed to  hear  it  read  in  the  gospel  lesson  for  this 
day,  to  hear  it  paraphrased  in  the  hymns  of  the  day  and 
to  take  it  to  heart  in  the  rite  of  confirmation  which  is 
celebrated  on  this  day. 

May  it  not  be  well  to  apply  this  verse  to  our  confirma- 
tion today?  May  it  not  be  helpful  to  the  band  of  cate- 
chumens here  assembled  to  re-live  this  day  in  the  lives  of 
those  of  us  who  have  already  confessed  Christ  before 
men,  asking  ourselves  certain  questions  which  affect  our 
confirmation  in  the  hope  that  our  answers  may  be  helpful 
to  those  who  are  about  to  confess  Christ?  And  may  we 
not  express  the  earnest  prayer  that  these  considerations 
may  start  trains  of  thought  and  of  self-examination  in 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  those  here  present  who  have  not 
yet  determined  to  confess  Christ  openly  before  men? 
What  I  would  have  those  of  you  do  who  have  already 
been  confirmed  is  to  attempt  to  visualize  and  re-live  your 
confirmation  day,  no  matter  whether  it  was  last  year  or 
a  score  of  years  ago,  and  I  would  ask  you  first  of  all,  was 
this  day  in  your  life  the  resultant  of  a  mass  movement 
or  of  individual  constraint? 

We  speak  of  great  movements  as  if  they  were  the  in- 
vention of  the  modern  world.  We  would  not  classify 
them  thus  if  we  knew  a  little  more  about  history  than 
we  do.  There  have  been  great  movements  in  every  age  of 


214  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  world's  history,  movements  whereby  men  attempted 
to  get  away  from  God  and  movements  whereby  they 
sought  to  draw  nigh.  Israel  was  particularly  susceptible 
to  both  currents,  the  currents  toward  and  away  from 
God.  For  movements  away  from  the  living  God  we  need 
but  refer  to  the  frequent  attempts  at  the  introduction 
of  idolatry  among  the  people.  For  movements  toward  the 
God  Whom  they  so  often  forsook  we  need  but  point  to 
the  repeated  rallying  under  successive  leaders  of  prophetic 
calling  and  instinct.  The  great  movements  toward  God 
and  the  Messiah  culminated  in  a  common  impulse  which 
prompted  the  multitudes  to  follow  Jesus  and  acclaim 
Him  the  true  Son  of  David  and  the  blessed  of  the  Lord. 
These  are  the  same  great  caravans  journeying  to  Jeru- 
salem that  have  been  diverted  from  their  pilgrimage  on 
this  and  former  occasions  as  they  have  tarried  in  the 
desert  to  be  fed  by  Christ  or  by  the  lakeside  or  on  the 
hillside  to  be  taught  by  Him,  or  in  the  villages  and 
towns  to  see  the  miracles  which  He  wrought  upon  their 
sick.  They'  do  not  so  much  as  stop  to  assert  an  in- 
dividual impulse,  they  are  carried  down  the  maelstrom 
of  restless,  expectant,  eager,  searching  mass  movements. 
It  is  largely  in  this  spirit  they  have  come  to  the  outskirts 
of  Jerusalem  on  their  annual  pilgrimage.  It  is  in  this 
spirit  they  encircle  the  Christ.  It  is  in  this  spirit  they 
unitedly,  not  singly,  shout:  "Hosanna  to  the  Son  of 
David ;  blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ; 
hosanna  in  the  highest."  You  could  not  possibly  imagine 
this  verse  utilized  as  a  recitative  or  an  aria  for  a  single 
voice.  It  is  the  mass  utterance  of  the  same  concourse  of 
people  which  a  little  later  shouts  in  just  as  lusty  a 
fashion:  "Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him,."  A  public  con- 
fession such  as  that  in  which  a  group  of  young  people 
are  to  join  this  morning,  such  as  that  in  which  many  of 
us  have  joined  on  a  previous  Palm  Sunday,  can  be,  and 


PALM  SUNDAY  215 

there  is  danger,  that  it  will  be  just  such  a  mass  con- 
fession. 

A  public  confession  to  mean  anything  at  all  signifies 
that  the  individual  dare  not  be  lost  in  the  mass,  but  the 
individual  must  be  active  and  vibrant  in  and  through  the 
mass  and  the  mass  must  be  transformed  because  of  the 
presence  of  the  individual  who  takes  himself  or  herself 
seriously.  The  best  illustration  of  a  public  confession 
which  came  as  the  resultant  of  individual  constraint  is, 
to  my  mind,  the  little  incident  which  occurred  at  Bethany 
just  six  days  before  the  passover.  When  it  was  known 
that  Jesus  had  arrived  a  group  of  villagers  prepared  a 
public  supper  for  Him.  Of  course,  they  were  His 
friends,  but  they  could  not  have  realized  how  little  their 
supper  must  have  meant  to  Jesus  at  that  time.  Un- 
doubtedly it  meant  more  to  them  than  to  Him.  They 
could  not  understand  the  loneliness  of  Jesus.  There  was 
one  who  could  and  did  understand  that  loneliness,  that 
burden,  that  sorrow  that  was  weighing  Him  down  and 
fitting  Him  for  the  Gethsemane  struggle.  There  was 
one  who  was  willing  to  confess  her  faith  in  Him  and  her 
love  for  Him  in  a  truly  sacrificial  way.  There  was  one 
who,  though  she  knew  that  her  act  must  bring  strong 
rebuke  from  her  kinsmen,  was  willing  to  suffer  rebuke 
for  His  sake.  There  was  one  whom  individual  con- 
straint prompted  to  confess  Jesus  as  her  Savior  in  the 
anointing  of  His  body  against  the  day  of  His  burial.  It 
was  a  public  confession  in  the  presence  of  many  wit- 
nesses and  was  understood  by  Him  Who  called  for  and 
needed  just  some  such  sign  of  discipleship  at  that  moment. 
The  confession  cost  Mary  a  very  great  deal,  not  only 
because  of  the  depletion  of  her  purse.  That  must  have 
meant  something  to  her.  It  cost  her  more  because  of  the 
rebuke  and  the  ridicule  which  she  anticipated.  In  reading 
the  gospels  we  are  surprised  to  find  that  public  confes- 
sions of  an  individual  character  of  real  worth  are  so  few. 


2i6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of  Arimathaea  and  others  con- 
fessed their  faith  in  Christ,  but  not  publicly,  hence  not 
whole-heartedly.  The  precrucifixion  confessions  of  Peter 
were  the  confessions  of  a  self-appointed  leader,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  a  man  who,  in  inspired  moments,  spoke 
better  than  he  knew  how,  on  the  other  hand.  They 
were  not  the  deliberate  confessions  of  one  who  has  un- 
conditionally found  Christ.  How  much  did  your  con- 
fession of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  day  of  your  confirmation 
mean  to  you?  Was  it  a  sing-song  recital  of  something 
you  had  learned  by  rote,  or  was  it  the  outburst  of  con- 
victions pent  up  within  your  heart?  Were  your 
thoughts  centered  upon  mere  externalities  of  place  or 
person,  or  were  you  alone  with  the  Christ  even  though 
others  were  there? 

The  first  question  which  we  have  asked  and  which  we 
must  ask  you  individually  to  answer  is:  Was  your  con- 
fession of  Jesus  Christ  on  the  day  of  your  confirmation  a 
mass  confession,  a  class  confession,  or  was  it  an  individ- 
ual confession  in  the  presence  of  many  witnesses?  Your 
answer  to  this  question  will  depend  upon  your  answer  to 
the  second  question.  Had  you  mastered  the  meaning  of 
the  act  in  which  you  engaged?  Did  your  confirmation 
mean  something  more  than  an  external  act  because  you 
had  caught  the  purpose  of  Christ's  coming  into  the  world 
and  of  His  coming  to  you?  This  leads,  very  naturally, 
to  an  interpretation  of  the  confession  itself.  Hosanna  is 
a  prayer  for  safety,  a  prayer  for  salvation.  There  is 
implied  the  need  for  salvation,  a  need  which,  according 
to  the  ii8th  Psalm,  from  which  this  prayer  is  taken,  can 
be  satisfied  only  by  the  Lord.  "Save  now"  was  the  cry 
of  the  multitudes  from  Galilee  and  the  approaching  mul- 
titudes from  Jerusalem.  Was  the  prayer  addressed  to 
Jehovah  in  the  interests  of  Him  Who  was  riding  on  in 
majesty  to  His  last  and  fiercest  strife,  or  was  it  ad- 
dressed to  the  Son  of  David  Himself?     In  either  case 


PALM  SUNDAY  217 

it  announced  the  need  of  salvation  and  set  forth  the  ap- 
proach of  this  day  of  salvation.  In  either  case  Israel 
looked  upon  the  Christ  about  to  enter  the  Holy  City  as 
the  Messiah,  even  though  a  little  later  it  was  to  repudiate 
its  confession.  They  who  had  witnessed  the  raising  up 
of  Lazarus  could  not  refrain  from  honest  appreciation 
of  His  personality  and  of  His  claim.  Our  confession  on 
this  day  of  confirmation  is  couched  in  a  more  specific 
formula  than  that  of  the  ii8th  Psalm.  Of  course,  we 
include  that,  but  in  our  recitation  of  the  Apostles  Creed 
as  we  have  perhaps  never  recited  it  before,  we  pause 
for  a  moment  before  each  of  the  great  milestones  of  re- 
ligion and  we  ask  ourselves.  Do  I  really  believe  that,  or 
are  we  here  because  we  have  paused  before  these  mile- 
stones as  we  have  proceeded  on  our  journey?  It  is  because 
they  have  become  very  real  to  us,  one  after  the  other  of 
these  articles  of  the  creed,  one  after  the  other  of  these 
interpretations  of  the  articles  of  the  creed  as  we  have 
interpreted  them,  it  is  because  we  are  able  with  our  whole 
heart  to  make  this  confession  our  own  that  our  confirma- 
tion really  means  something  to  us.  The  hymn  "Abide 
with  me,  fast  falls  the  even  tide"  means  less  to  the  per- 
son who  sings  it  occasionally  at  an  evening  service  than 
it  does  to  the  person  who  has  been  permitted  to  repeat  it 
at  the  death  bed  of  a  member  of  the  family.  The  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ  means  more  to  me  because  of  the  con- 
fession of  its  saving  value  by  a  group  of  poor  lepers 
slowly  decaying  in  body  whom  it  was  my  privilege  to 
visit  in  company  with  some  missionaries.  There  must 
be  a  vital  relationship  between  confession  and  creed. 
My  confession  must  be  the  honest  expression  of  my 
creed.  I  cannot  believe  one  thing  in  my  heart  and  say 
something  else  with  my  lips.  Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  public  confession  is  not  always  a  clear,  cleancut  ex- 
pression of  the  inmost  beliefs  of  our  hearts.  There  are 
those  who  have  no  clear,  clean-cut  beliefs.     There  are 


2i8  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

those  who  believe  in  the  validity  of  mental  reservations. 
There  are  those  who  believe  in  the  validity  of  moral 
reservations.  There  are  those  who  believe  in  the  validity 
of  spiritual  reservations.  There  are  those  who  come  to 
Him  without  any  reservations,  but  ask  Him  to  take  up 
His  abode  within  their  hearts.  The  last  named  are  true 
catechumens.  Did  you  or  did  you  not  come  in  this 
spirit?  Are  you  the  catechumens  of  today  coming  in 
this  spirit? 

The  hosanna  of  the  advent  season  is  a  prophetic 
hosanna,  pointing  to  a  Messiah  Who  is  still  to  come. 
The  hosanna  of  Palm  Sunday  is  a  gospel  hosanna,  the 
proclamiation  of  the  arrival  of  One  Who  is  ready  and 
willing  to  be  your  Savior.  During  the  week  that  begins 
today  we  are  not  so  much  to  center  our  thoughts  upon 
Him  Who  is  to  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead, 
but  rather  upon  Him  Who  has  come  and  Who  has  suf- 
fered and  died  for  us.  In  view  of  the  Deed  of  Christ, 
in  full  realization  of  the  atonement  which  He  has 
wrought  for  us,  the  question  is  asked  shall  we  or  shall 
we  not  join  in  this  public  yet  very  personal  confession  of 
allegiance  to  Him  about  Whose  person  and  purpose  there 
is  no  question?  Our  hosanna  is  not  sung  as  we  wend 
our  way  with  the  multitudes  to  the  city  in  which  Christ 
is  to  die,  but  our  hosanna  is  sung  because  we  have  seen 
Him  die  for  us.  We  no  longer  merely  hope  that  He 
might  have  been  the  One  to  redeem  Israel,  but  we  know 
that  He  is  the  One  Who  has  redeemed  us.  Our  hosanna 
is  the  hosanna  of  faith,  but  it  is  the  hosanna  of  experience 
as  well.  Our  hosanna  is  the  hosanna  of  child-like  trust 
on  the  part  of  those  who  have  mastered  the  first  rudi- 
ments of  religion  and  are  ready  to  enter  upon  the  joys 
of  their  Lord  as  well  as  upon  His  sorrows. 


XXVII. 
HOLY  THURSDAY. 

Matthew  26 :  40. 
"Could  ye  not  watch  with  me  one  hour"? 

In  the  transition  of  a  soul  from  this  world  to  the 
world  beyond  there  are  normally  two  struggles,  the  con- 
flict of  soul  ere  it  is  at  rest  and  at  peace,  and  the  struggle 
of  the  body.     The  violence  of  the  physical  struggle  is 
dependent  very  largely  upon  the  manner  in  which  the 
soul  struggle  has  spent  itself.     If  there  has  been  little  or 
no  willingness  to  subordinate  the  personal  will  to  the 
will  of  God,  then,  of  course,  the  great  and  final  struggle 
must  be  purely  physical.     If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  soul 
struggle  has  convinced  us  of  the  necessity  of  subordinat- 
ing self  to  God,  the  physical  struggle  is  a  mere  aftermath 
in  which  resignation  makes  possible  a  peaceful  exit  from 
the  life  that  now  is  to  the  life  to  come.     The  struggle 
of  the  individual  passing  through  this  unique  yet  uni- 
versal experience  must  or  should  be  shared  by  those  who 
are  next  of  kin  or  by  those  whose  friendship  supercedes 
the  position  of  kinship.     They  who  have  watched  by  the 
bedside  of  a  parent  or  child  whose  life  was  slowly  ebbing 
away,  know  what  is  meant.     As  you  analyze  your  feel- 
ings you  realize  that  during  those  trying  moments  you 
have  passed  through  two  very  different  frames  of  mind. 
In  the  first  place,  there  was  the  soul  struggle  which  en- 
deavored to  avert  the  calamity.     You  prayed  that  the 
cup  might  pass  from  you  and  your  dear  one.     It  took 
some  time  until  you  were  ready  and  willing  to  commit 
the  soul  of  your  parent  or  your  child  or  your  friend  into 

219 


220  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  keeping  of  your  Father,  until,  in  other  words,  you 
were  ready  to  say  "not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done." 
After  that  came  the  subsidence  of  the  storm,  the  phy- 
sical ebbing  out  of  the  breath  of  human  life  and  that  was 
peaceful  compared  with  the  struggle  of  soul  which  pre- 
ceded it. 

Perhaps  all  that  has  been  said  thus  far  ought  to  have 
been  said  in  conclusion  as  the  resultant  desire  to  imitate 
the  example  of  our  blessed  Lord  and  Master  and  yet  it 
has  been  said  at  the  very  start  so  that  we  may  realize, 
those  of  us  who  are  so  prone  to  ignore  the  practical  ap- 
plication of  the  Savior's  sufferings  to  our  own  sufferings, 
the  practical  postulates  in  every  act  of  the  passion  of 
Christ.  The  intensity  of  the  struggle  in  the  days  pre- 
ceding the  crucifixion  centered  in  the  scene  in  the  garden 
of  Gethsemane  because  it,  above  all  things  else,  became 
the  real,  culminating  soul  struggle  which  made  possible 
the  subsequent  physical  conflict.  Jesus  was  justified  in 
asking  His  disciples  to  share  His  agony.  Perhaps  their 
wakefulness  in  the  garden  would  not  have  changed 
things  and  there  would  have  been  no  outward  turning 
of  the  tide  in  Jesus'  favor  because  of  it,  but  on  the  other 
hand  it  would  have  meant  so  much  to  Jesus  to  have 
known  at  that  moment  of  the  hearty  sympathy  of  those 
whom  He  loved  so  tenderly. 

May  I  ask  you  to  follow  that  little  band  of  disciples 
and  their  Master  as  they  leave  the  upper  room  in  which 
they  have  just  finished  the  last  supper  and  where  they 
have  joined  in  the  singing  of  one  of  the  inspiring  and 
comforting  Songs  of  the  Hebrew  Psalter,  as  they  wend 
their  way  out  of  the  gate,  down  into  the  valley  of  the 
brook  Kedron  and  ascend  the  slopes  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives  to  the  garden  which  was  so  well  known  to  them 
as  one  of  the  retreats  to  which  they  resorted  on  the  way 
to  or  from  Bethany.  On  this  particular  evening  they 
stopped,  as  was  their  custom  at  the  garden  of   Geth- 


HOLY  THURSDAY  221 

semane,  but  the  Master  was  the  only  one  in  that  party 
Who  realized  that  they  would  not  eventually  proceed  to 
Bethany,  their  usual  shelter  for  the  night.  To  them, 
their  evening  pilgrimage  presented  little  that  was  un- 
usual. Jesus  realized  its  unique  significance.  His 
thoughts  were  centered  on  the  events  of  the  morrow. 
The  time  for  instruction  had  passed,  the  time  for  a 
supreme  soul  struggle  had  arrived.  This  explains  the 
two  relays  of  disciples,  the  first  group  stationed  near  the 
garden  gate,  the  second  group  nearer  the  Lord,  yet  re- 
moved a  bit  from  the  scene  of  His  conflict. 

The  appeal  of  Christ  as  they  face  the  tragedy  before 
them  is  wonderfully  pathetic.  We  have  already  indi- 
cated the  method  of  their  adjournment  after  the  even- 
ing spent  in  that  upper  room.  As  they  arise  from  the 
table  ready  to  go  out  into  the  darkness  of  the  night 
Jesus  says:  "All  ye  shall  be  offended  in  me  this  night: 
for  it  is  written,  I  will  smite  the  shepherd,  and  the  sheep 
of  the  flock  shall  be  scattered  abroad.  But  after  I  am 
raised  up,  I  will  go  before  you  into  Galilee."  This  state- 
ment demands  no  answer.  It  is  a  prophetic  setting  forth 
of  facts  which  will  transpire  in  the  immediate  future. 
We  are  therefore  very  much  annoyed  because  of  the 
persistent  way  in  which  Peter  intrudes  upon  the  sacred- 
ness  and  solemnity  of  the  hour  in  asserting  one  of  his 
boastful  commonplaces:  "If  all  shall  be  offended  in 
Thee,  I  will  never  be  offended."  The  rebuke  of  Jesus, 
a  further  prophetic  statement  of  fact,  remains  unheeded 
by  the  disciple  who  does  not  take  time  to  meditate  upon 
its  significance  but  blurts  out  "Even  if  I  must  die  with 
Thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  Thee."  In  this  verdict,  Peter 
becomes  the  spokesman  for  the  entire  band  "likewise 
also  said  all  the  disciples."  It  was  natural  for  Jesus  to 
ask  the  great  majority  of  the  disciples  to  wait  for  Him 
at  the  entrance  to  the  garden.  In  moments  of  great 
soul  struggle  we  must  be  alone  with  God.     It  is  inter- 


222  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

esting  to  note  that  as  He  leaves  them  He  does  not  ask 
them  to  share  His  burden,  whereas  He  does  ask  certain 
things  of  the  little  group  of  three  which  accompanies 
Him  into  the  confines  of  the  garden.  He  has  borne  up 
wonderfully  to  this  point.  He  now  begins  to  be  sorrow- 
ful and  sore  troubled.  As  they  arrive  at  a  strategic 
point  He  endeavors  to  have  them  understand  a  bit  of 
His  anguish  as  He  says:  "My  soul  is  exceeding  sor- 
rowful, even  unto  death:  abide  ye  here,  and  watch  with 
me."  We  can  watch  with  others  even  though  we  are 
not  within  a  line  of  vision.  The  request  is  not  unreason- 
able. Relatives  and  friends  do  it  day  after  day  as  they 
remain  near  at  hand  while  surgeons  and  physicians  and 
nurses,  and  shall  we  not  say  pastors,  are  in  the  sick 
room.  Relatives  and  friends  do  it  day  after  day  in  this 
season  of  world  conflict  as  they  alternate  between  prayer 
and  the  scanning  of  the  casualty  lists.  Jesus  was  justi- 
fied, amply  justified,  in  the  request  He  made.  He  was 
facing  a  death  of  shame.  He  was  facing  a  period  in 
which  He,  the  sole  sinless  one  in  all  this  world,  would 
be  misunderstood  by  all  the  world.  He  needed  the  sym- 
pathy and  the  love  of  His  disciples,  of  James  and  of 
Peter  and  of  John. 

His  disappointment  on  returning  from  that  first  con- 
flict is  keen  and  bitter.  His  faith  is  not  shattered,  His 
faith  in  the  ability  of  His  disciples  to  resist  temptation. 
Note  the  change  in  His  appeal.  He  no  longer  asks  them 
to  watch  with  Him.  They  have  shown  their  inability 
to  do  that.  What  He  does  ask  of  them  is  that  they 
watch  and  pray  for  their  own  souls,  lest  they  fall  into 
temptation,  adding  the  very  significant  maxim  "the  spirit 
indeed  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak."  He  has  learned 
that  He  cannot  depend  upon  human  aid  in  this  crisis. 

There  is  in  the  admission  of  the  disciples  the  admis- 
sion of  all  the  world  that  it  cannot  by  its  own  power  or 
strength  come  to  or  believe  in  our  Lord  or  remain  in 


HOLY  THURSDAY  223 

fellowship  with  Him.  He  found  them  asleep.  May  not 
this  judgment  be  pronounced  upon  Adam  and  Eve  in 
the  moment  of  their  temptation  in  the  garden ;  upon 
Noah  as  "he  drank  the  wine  and  was  drunken" ;  upon 
Abraham  in  moments  of  forgetfulness  recorded  in  Scrip- 
ture ;  upon  Lot,  the  sordid,  base  nephew  of  a  great  uncle ; 
upon  Isaac  and  Jacob,  upon  the  Judges  and  Kings  and 
Priests,  upon  prophets  and  disciples,  upon  exalted  church 
fathers  and  haughty  world  rulers?  May  not  this  judg- 
ment be  pronounced  upon  you  and  me  even  here  and 
now?  Three  times  in  succession  our  Lord  finds  His  dis- 
ciples asleep.  The  deliberateness  with  which  they  thus 
acknowledge  their  inability  and  their  lack  of  desire  to 
stand  by  Christ  in  His  hour  of  extreme  need  and  peril 
must  have  added  an  hundred  fold  to  the  intensity  of 
Christ's  suffering.  When  Peter  put  the  question  to  the 
Lord  concerning  the  frequency  with  which  a  brother  must 
be  forgiven  he  did  not  think  of  himself  as  the  brother 
who  must  be  forgiven  for  a  volley  of  transgressions  in 
a  single  night  which  almost  equalled  the  succession  of 
the  shots  from  a  modern  machine  gun.  And  isn't  it  so 
in  our  own  lives?  Take  the  sins  to  which  you  are  most 
addicted  and  see  how  frequent  is  their  repetition  even 
after  the  Lord  has  come  and  taken  us  by  the  hand.  Per- 
haps it  is  the  un-Christian  attitude  of  nagging  others, 
the  lack  of  sympathy  for  members  of  our  own  family, 
the  inability,  because  of  the  degeneracy  of  our  ears,  our 
heart  and  our  tongue,  of  reproducing  reports  correctly, 
the  proneness  to  accept  rather  than  to  give,  to  steal  in  a 
gentlemanly  way,  to  waste  our  lives  and  our  substance 
in  riotous  living,  all  of  which  sins  and  all  other  sins  are 
the  direct  result  of  our  unbelief  in  Christ.  We  too  are 
causing  Him  even  today  to  tread  the  wine-press  alone 
by  our  repeated  sleeping  at  the  post  of  duty,  by  our 
lack  of  vigilance  when  viligance  is  most  needed.  If  a 
commanding  officer  is  permitted,  in  the  interests  of  his 


224  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

army  and  his  country,  to  order  a  man  to  be  shot  for 
sleeping  at  his  post  in  hours  of  peril,  what  punishment 
ought  to  be  meted  out  to  the  soldier  in  the  army  of 
Christ  who  brings  peril  to  countless  souls  by  falling 
asleep  while  on  duty?  Might  not  the  disciples  have  in- 
tercepted the  plotting  and  scheming  and  planning  of 
Judas  if  they  had  before  this  fateful  evening  endeavored 
with  all  their  souls  to  learn  to  know  both  Christ  and 
Judas?  Had  they  not  voluntarily  sacrificed  golden  op- 
portunities never  to  be  regained  ? 

Friends,  the  hour  in  our  lives  during  which  Christ  asks 
us  to  watch  with  Him  is  not  so  much  the  hour  of  baptism 
or  of  confirmation,  or  of  the  Sunday  service ;  these  hours 
are  important,  but  the  hour  which  Jesus  asks  us  to  watch 
with  Him  is  the  hour  in  which  Satan  draws  nearest  to 
us,  the  hour  of  darkness,  the  hour  in  which  restraint  is 
removed,  the  hour  during  which  we  are  away  from  home 
and  friends,  the  hour  of  greatest  peril.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  hour  of  greatest  peril  to  us  is  the  hour  of  most 
intense  intercession  on  His  part.  This  negative,  destruc- 
tive hour  in  our  lives  has  a  positive  constructive  value 
only  as  we  are  able  to  watch  and  pray  because  we  know 
that  our  redemption  draweth  nigh. 


XXVIII. 
GOOD  FRIDAY. 

John  19:30. 
"It  is  finished." 

Good  Friday  has  come  upon  us  unaware.  It  is  always 
so.  The  greatest  tragedies  heralded  though  they  may 
have  been  for  years  dawn  upon  an  unexpectant,  unbe- 
lieving world.  The  sunset  and  the  evening  star  appear 
long  before  we  are  ready  for  either.  As  we  parted  last 
evening  we  saw  the  hostile  band  lead  the  Savior  away 
into  the  darkness  of  the  night.  It  is  unnecessary  to  re- 
peat the  indignities  to  which  they  subjected  the  Lamb 
of  God.  It  is  unnecessary  to  refer  to  the  patient  pas.- 
sion  of  the  greatest,  noblest  prisoner  ever  brought  before, 
a  human  tribunal.  We  do  not  care  to  rehearse  this 
morning  the  detailed  action  of  this  day.  It  is  too  har- 
rowing, too  shameful,  too  incredible.  Our  attention  is 
to  be  fastened  upon  one  of  the  ever  memorable  words 
from  the  cross,  the  sixth:     "It  is  finished." 

What  did  they  who  stood  near  enough  to  hear  this 
outcry  make  of  it?  How  did  they  interpret  it?  If 
they  thought  of  it  in  any  intelligible  way  they  very  likely 
thought  of  it  as  a  word  referring  to  the  agony  upon  the 
cross,  the  physical  suffering  to  which  the  Savior  was 
subjected.  They  did  not  for  a  moment  realize  that  they 
were  listening  to  one  of  the  greatest  words  ever  uttered, 
a  word  the  significance  of  which  cannot  be  fathomed 
even  by  those  of  us  who  have  assembled  twenty  cen- 
turies after  the  deed  and  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
examining  a  countless  host  of  witnesses  from  the  days 

225 


226  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

of  Calvary  to  our  modern  days  of  world  tragedy.  May 
we  pause  for  a  moment  to  realize  that  the  word  which 
Jesus  uttered  when  He  said:  "It  is  finished"  is  abso- 
lutely unique  in  the  history  of  the  world.  World  con- 
querors like  Alexander  and  Caesar  and  Napoleon  have 
uttered  the  word  in  one  form  or  other,  and  yet  we  know 
how  hollow  was  the  ring  of  the  word  as  it  left  their  lips 
and  how  untrue  it  was  subsequent  ages  have  abundantly 
shown.  No  world  conqueror  ever  completely  finished 
the  world's  work  in  such  a  way  that  his  successors  could 
reap  the  fruits  of  his  conquests.  No  world  conqueror 
ever  will  or  ever  shall  finish  the  world's  work.  There 
will  always  be  something  to  do,  something  that  has 
been  left  unfinished,  sometimes  that  has  been  marred 
rather  than  made,  consequently  something  that  must  be 
undone.  No  world  conqueror  has  ever  yet  been  able  to 
look  into  the  future  as  he  uttered  his  cry  of  triumph.  It 
has  always  been  a  testimony  to  past  achievements  and  a 
false  testimony  at  that. 

But  you  will  answer,  the  realm  of  the  Christ  is  the 
spiritual  realm.  His  victory.  His  achievement,  must  be 
different  from  that  of  the  world  conqueror.  Yes,  what 
you  say  is  true.  Jesus  Himself  said:  "My  Kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world."  Turning  to  the  spiritual  realm  we 
find  the  utterance  of  Jesus,  this  outcry  of  His  upon  the 
cross,  to  be  absolutely  unique  even  there.  The  various 
outcries  of  Moses,  the  first  as  he  seeks  to  evade  the 
task  which  God  imposes,  those  which  give  vent  to  his 
feelings  concerning  the  inabilty  of  Israel  to  enter  upon 
the  promised  inheritance,  his  outcries  against  friend 
and  foe  alike,  all  of  them  are  the  bitter  wails  of  one 
who  recognizes  his  own  insufficiency  and  that  of  his 
own  people.  The  work  of  Moses  was  not  finished. 
Israel  had  not  entered  fully  upon  its  heritage.  Israel  had 
not  learned  to  submit  to  the  Mosaic  covenant.  Joshua  was 
needed  to  complete  the  work  of  Moses  and  others  were 


GOOD  FRIDAY  227 

needed  in  turn  to  complete  the  work  of  Joshua.  The  spirit- 
ual realm  of  Israel  is  the  realm  of  which  the  prophets 
were  the  mouthpieces  of  Jehovah  and  yet  not  one  of  them 
stands  out  as  the  beginner  and  finisher  or  as  the  finisher  of 
Israel's  spiritual  combat  and  the  solver  of  Israel's  prob- 
lems. We  are  simply  trying  to  remind  you  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  thinking  of  this  exclamation  as  the  honest  vale- 
dictory of  any  one  other  than  Jesus.  The  words  on  other 
lips,  proceeding  from  other  hearts,  are  untrue  and  hollow. 
The  words  uttered  by  the  Christ  are  true.  The  thought 
which  gave  rise  to  these  words  was  no  sudden  thought, 
flashing  through  the  mind  of  Christ  and  as  suddenly 
finding  expression.  The  preceding  word  "I  thirst"  was 
uttered  only  after  Jesus  knew  that  all  things  were  fin- 
ished. Until  He  knew  that  and  was  sure  of  it  He  had 
no  inclination  to  satisfy  His  thirst.  After  the  conscious- 
ness of  a  completed  task  and  a  completed  passion  had 
manifested  itself  to  Him  He  was  ready  to  quench  the 
thirst  which  might  and  would  have  interfered  with  the 
calm  transit  of  the  soul  from  this  world  to  another 
realm.  "When  Jesus  therefore  had  received  the  vine- 
gar, he  said,  It  is  finished:  and  he  bowed  his  head,  and 
gave  up  his  spirit."  What  was  it  that  was  finished? 
Are  we  to  interpret  these  words  only  of  the  personal 
suffering  of  Jesus?  I  do  not  think  so.  There  are  those 
who  would  interpret  them  of  both  His  suffering  and  His 
work.  If  that  suffering  is  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  mere 
personal  pain,  but  as  a  passion,  a  suffering  made  more  in- 
tense because  of  its  extensive  reaches,  its  necessary  inclu- 
sion of  all  the  pain  of  all  the  world,  then  we  are  willing  to 
agree  with  this  verdict.  When  Jesus  said :  *Tt  is  finished" 
He  was  certainly  not  thinking  of  Himself  even  if  He  had 
been  conscious  of  treading  the  winepress  alone.  When  He 
said:  "It  is  finished"  He  was  thinking  of  the  business 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  Him,  His  Father's  business. 
He  knew  as  no  one  else  knew  the  significance  of  the 


228  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

tearing  of  the  temple  veil.  He  knew  as  no  one  else 
knew  the  distinction  between  the  old  covenant,  forever 
abrogated  from  that  moment  of  His  death,  and  the  new 
covenant  instituted  by  His  death  upon  the  cross.  He 
knew  how  much  this  supreme  sacrifice  would  mean  for 
humanity.  He  knew  that  at  last  the  fulness  of  time  had 
come  and  that  the  Scriptures  had  been  fulfilled.  The 
prophecy  which  had  been  heralded  by  His  forerunners 
had  found  its  fulfilment  in  Him  and  in  that  yielding  of 
self  to  death  upon  the  cross.  "It  is  finished"  refers 
primarily  to  the  work  of  redemption. 

For  whom  was  this  great  cry  of  victory  intended?  It 
is  exceedingly  difficult  to  limit  the  word  to  any  one  circle 
of  hearers.  In  the  first  place  Jesus  must  have  uttered 
the  word  as  a  monologue.  He  Who  had  repeatedly 
spoken  of  the  judgment  which  is  to  be  meted  out  in  that 
great  day,  He  Who  had  so  often  urged  men  to  work 
while  it  is  day,  reminding  them  of  the  night  wherein  no 
man  can  work,  He  Who  had  recognized  the  close  of  day 
in  His  earthly  life,  certainly  could  not  refrain  from  sub- 
jecting His  own  life,  His  own  deeds.  His  one  great  deed 
to  a  critical  self-examination.  It  is  the  human  Jesus 
and  the  divine  Jesus,  the  Jesus  Who  is  the  son  of  Mary 
and  the  Jesus  Who  is  the  son  of  God,  rendering  an 
account  to  the  eternal  Logos,  the  eternal  Word.  We 
cannot  render  an  account  to  ourselves  in  the  sense  in 
which  Jesus  did.  The  message  contained  in  this  sixth 
word  from  the  cross  was  not  simply  an  outburst  of 
assurance  which  came  as  the  resultant  of  self-examina- 
tion. It  was  a  message  intended  for  the  Father.  He 
was  entitled  to  know  the  result  of  this  one  great  supreme 
effort  to  reach  humanity  and  bring  it  into  touch  with 
heaven.  The  message  was  to  find  its  way  into  the  un- 
seen world.  It  was  to  bring  joy  and  happiness  to  the 
God  Who  is  love  and  Who  as  love  sent  forth  His  only- 
begotten  Son  into  the  world.    It  sounds  anomalous,  does 


GOOD;  FRIDAY  229 

it  not,  to  speak  of  the  joy  afforded  the  Father  in  hearing 
the  "it  is  finished"  of  the  Son.  It  sounds  awkward  and 
cold  to  speak  of  the  happiness  of  the  Father  at  the 
moment  of  the  death  of  the  Son,  but  it  rings  true  to 
spiritual  experience,  this  joy  of  the  Father  in  the  salva- 
tion of  countless  souls.  Some  of  the  most  exalted  hymns 
in  our  Christian  hymnody,  some  of  the  hymns  which  have 
most  adequately  portrayed  the  life  eternal  with  all  its 
joys  and  all  its  happiness  have  been  penned  in  moments 
of  persecution  and  distress  and  famine  and  pestilence. 
Some  of  the  most  beautiful  transitions  of  human  souls 
have  been  those  in  which  there  has  been  no  question  of 
the  presence  of  the  light  of  eternity.  The  Son  teaches 
us  how  to  die.  The  Father  teaches  us  how  to  act  in  the 
presence  of  death. 

The  audience  in  the  unseen  world  includes  those  who 
encircle  the  throne.  We  cannot  think  of  the  angels  as 
messengers  to  whom  have  been  entrusted  repeated  em- 
bassies in  the  interests  of  the  Christ,  without  thinking 
of  them  and  their  interest  in  this  moment  of  blended 
darkness  and  light.  An  angel  was  sent  to  strengthen 
Christ  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  We  are  not  told 
that  any  angel  was  sent  to  sustain  Christ  upon  the  cross. 
That  would  not  have  been  treading  the  winepress  alone. 
We  cannot  for  that  reason,  however,  think  of  the  angels 
as  impassive  to  all  that  was  transpiring.  It  is  not  easy 
to  stand  back  and  look  on  when  you  feel  that  perhaps  you 
might  be  able  to  be  of  some  help.  How  gratifying, 
therefore,  this  message  of  Him  Who  is  their  Lord  and 
Whom  they  have  not  been  permitted  to  serve  at  this 
juncture,  this  assurance  that  without  their  aid  "it  is 
finished."  As  we  think  of  the  effect  of  these  words  in 
the  unseen  world  we  think  naturally  of  those  whose 
graves  were  opened,  of  those  whose  hope  was  to  find 
its  fulfilment.  Turning  from  the  sympathetic  throng  in 
that  unseen  world  to  the  great  army  at  enmity  with  God 


230  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

we  realize  what  a  challege  Christ's  message  must  have 
contained  for  them.  The  Paradise  which  was  lost 
through  the  disobedience  of  our  first  parents  was  con- 
verted into  a  harvest  field  for  Satan  and  his  army.  Sud- 
denly the  tables  were  again  turned  and  Paradise  lost 
became  Paradise  regained.  An  army  which  had  been 
trained  to  act  constantly  and  consistently  on  the  offensive 
found  itself  suddenly  on  the  defensive,  its  power  gone 
and  its  retreat  begun.  It  is  for  us,  Christians  of  today, 
to  continue  the  offensive  begun  by  Christ. 

The  message  was  intended  not  only  for  the  unseen 
world,  it  was  intended  for  this  world  in  which  we  live.  It 
was  intended  for  the  high  priest,  a  high  priest  no  longer, 
but  the  lowest  of  all  priests.  It  was  intended  for  the 
Sanhedrin,  no  longer  the  religious  citadel  of  the  people 
of  God,  the  Holy  Christian  Church,  the  communion  of 
saints,  was  soon  to  be  that.  This  word  was  intended 
for  the  masses  which  had  cried  "Hosanna  to  the  son  of 
David"  and  a  few  days  later  "crucify  Him,  crucify 
Him,"  a  word  of  warning  and  a  word  of  invitation.  The 
word  was  addressed  to  the  soldiers  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross.  It  was  addressed  to  Pontius  Pilate  and  his  wife. 
It  was  spoken  to  the  women  who  remained  true  to  their 
Lord  during  His  last  hours  upon  the  cross.  It  was 
addressed  to  the  disciples  who  had  failed  to  watch  with 
Him  even  for  a  single  hour.  It  contained  a  special  ap- 
peal for  Peter  and  for  Thomas.  It  was  one  of  those 
laconic  messages  which  eat  their  way  into  the  highways 
and  byways  of  this  world  forcing  people  to  take  heed.  It 
is  a  message  which  today  is  challenging  attention  as 
never  before.  People  are  asking  themselves  "is  it  fin- 
ished" this  work  of  Christ,  and  many  of  them  answer  "no, 
it  cannot  be  finished  or  we  would  not  be  experiencing 
the  scenes  we  are  made  to  witness  today."  As  this  an- 
swer comes  to  us,  worming  its  way  into  our  thinking,  we 
are  permitted  again  on  this  day  to  hear  His  insistent  reply 


good;  FRIDAY  231 

"it  is  finished."  As  we  are  forced  to  pay  attention  to  the 
devilishness  of  the  intrigue  which  has  converted  our  nine- 
teenth century  civilization  and  Christianity  into  twentieth 
century  barbarity  and  lack  of  religion  we  are  told  by 
the  men  at  the  front  themselves  that  there  is  but  one  hope 
for  this  world  and  that  hope  is  the  cross  of  Christ.  They 
are  praying  today  and  as  we  turn  to  the  last  of  the 
collects  in  the  litany  of  intercession  which  has  been  pre- 
pared for  them  and  is  being  used  by  them  we  pray  with 
them  as  we  recognize  the  significance  of  this  day  and  its 
message : 

"Eternal  Father,  Who  in  the  sending  of  Thy  Son,  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord,  didst  speak  peace  to  the  world,  and  in 
the  blood  of  His  cross  hast  opened  the  way  to  all  man- 
kind to  find  peace  with  and  in  Thee:  Hold  Thou  the 
cross  high  that  every  eye  may  see,  fire  every  heart  with 
Thy  Spirit  that  all  may  accept  in  Christ  the  way  of  life, 
that  following  His  holy  example  and  burning  with  His 
zeal  of  service,  all  mankind  may  be  one  brotherhood 
in  Him,  and  Thy  peace  possess  every  heart  and  rule 
all  the  nations  of  the  world  through  the  same  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord.     Amen." 


XXIX. 
EASTER  DAY. 

Makk   i6  : 6. 
"He  is  risen ;  He  is  not  here." 

It  was  an  ideal  day,  that  Easter  day  years  ago  on  which 
parents  and  children  attended  service  together  in  God's 
House  and  then  quietly  but  joyfully  wended  their  way 
to  a  delightful  forest  within  walking  distance  of  the  town 
and  reveled  in  the  happiness  of  Easter-tide.  A  member 
of  the  family,  sent  in  advance,  selected  the  place,  secreted 
nests  of  wholesome  Easter-eggs  in  secluded  spots  of  un- 
dergrowth or  in  the  branches  of  a  tree,  and  on  the  arrival 
of  the  party  directed  the  whole-hearted  search  on  the  part 
of  the  children,  with  an  occasional  word  of  advice  and  a 
constant  "not  here,"  "not  there,"  until  the  object  of  the 
quest  had  been  attained. 

There  was  just  a  bit  of  instruction  added  concerning 
the  symbolism  of  the  act.  The  egg  itself,  the  symbol  of 
life  hidden  away  in  the  secluded  nest,  must  be  sought 
diligently,  but  is  at  last  found  perhaps  where  we  least 
expected  to  find  it,  just  as  the  women  did  not  find  the 
Savior  where  they  looked  for  Him  at  first.  Would  that 
we  could  re-live  these  happy  days !  Can  we  not  re-live 
them  if  we  so  choose?  Would  that  we  could  again  hear 
the  good  old  Easter  message  as  we  once  heard  it!  Can 
we  not  thus  hear  it  if  vv^e  choose?  In  terming  the  Easter 
message,  the  most  important  message  ever  delivered  to 
men,  are  we  not  a  bit  archaic?  Are  not  the  messages 
which  are  being  exchanged  between  various  governments 
at  this  moment  more  important?  It  seems  incredible, 
does  it  not,  that  people  should  even  dare  raise  such  a 

232 


EASTER  DAY  233 

question.  The  various  vital  problems  with  which  we 
are  concerned  today  will  undoubtedly  affect  the  weal 
or  woe  of  individuals  and  of  nations  for  many  years  to 
come,  but  the  one  greatest  message  ever  delivered  to  men 
by  the  mouth  of  the  angel  will  continue  to  affect  the  weal 
or  woe  of  every  individual  for  all  eternity.  Paul  states 
the  issue  concisely  and  strongly  "Now  if  Christ  is 
preached  that  he  hath  been  raised  from  the  dead,  how 
say  some  among  you  that  there  is  no  resurrection  of 
the  dead?  But  if  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
neither  hath  Christ  been  raised;  and  if  Christ  hath  not 
been  raised,  then  is  our  preaching  vain,  your  faith  also 
is  vain.  Yea,  and  we  are  found  false  witnesses  of  God: 
because  we  witnessed  of  God  that  He  raised  up  Christ, 
whom  he  raised  not  up,  if  so  be  that  the  dead  are  not 
raised.  For  if  the  dead  are  not  raised,  neither  hath  Christ 
been  raised;  and  if  Christ  hath  not  been  raised,  your  faith 
is  vain ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins.  Then  they  also  that  are 
fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are  perished.  If  we  have  only 
hoped  in  Christ  in  this  life,  we  are  of  all  men  most 
pitiable." 

We  reassert  the  statement,  the  message  of  Almighty 
God  delivered  by  the  mouth  of  His  holy  angel  to  the 
women  and  by  them  to  the  disciples  and  by  them  to  other 
disciples  and  so  on  down  the  ages  to  the  present  time  is 
the  one  great  message  of  the  ages  and  of  eternity  for 
man  redeemed,  restored,  reclaimed.  This  announcement 
has  been  and  is  being  delivered  today  to  very  different 
groups  of  people  and  is  producing  very  varied  results. 
We  have  chosen  but  a  few  words  conveying  a  decided 
shock  to  the  women  who  first  heard  them.  "He  is  not 
here"  is  a  message  addressed  to  those  who  sincerely  but 
mistakenly  seek  Christ  where  He  is  not  to  be  found. 

What  a  long  Sabbath  it  must  have  been  for  the  women, 
especially  for  that  tried  band  of  faithful  helpers  in  His 
work,  as  they  awaited  the  passing  of  the  hours  until  their 


234  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

law  would  permit  them  to  perform  a  last  loving  service 
to  His  body  in  seeking  by  means  of  spices  to  preserve  it 
from  decay.  At  the  first  possible  moment  "very  early  on 
the  first  day  of  the  week  they  come  to  the  tomb  when 
the  sun  was  risen."  There  behind  the  big  stone  which 
mortals  believed  to  be  a  door  that  could  not  be  opened 
from  within,  at  least,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was 
sealed  to  make  it  secure  from  without,  behind  that  door 
and  in  the  recesses  of  that  rock-hewn  grave  they  ex- 
pected to  find  the  body  of  their  Lord,  hoping  fully  to 
see  Him  again  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  but  not  in 
this  life.  John  says  of  Peter  and  Mary  Magdalene  and 
that  other  disciple  who  was  no  other  than  himself  "As 
yet  they  knew  not  the  Scripture  that  he  must  rise  again 
from  the  dead."  They  had  heard  it,  of  course.  They 
had  heard  it  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  Himself,  this  great 
truth,  but  they  had  not  appropriated  it.  It  had  never 
penetrated  beneath  the  surface  of  their  shallow  compre- 
hension. Peter  and  John  must  be  told  "He  is  not  here." 
To  this  day  people  are  seeking  the  Christ  in  tombs  of  a 
Judaean  wilderness  rather  than  by  the  charming  lake  of 
sun-lit  Galilee.  To  this  day  the  words  of  Christ  Plim- 
self  are  true:  "Then  if  any  man  shall  say  unto  you, 
Lo,  here  is  the  Christ,  or  here;  believe  it  not.  For  there 
shall  arise  false  Christs  and  false  prophets,  and  shall  sho;v 
great  signs  and  wonders  so  as  to  lead  astray,  if  possible, 
even  the  elect.  Behold,  I  have  told  you  beforehand.  If, 
therefore,  they  shall  say  unto  you.  Behold,  he  is  in  the 
wilderness;  go  not  forth:  Behold,  he  is  in  the  inner 
chambers,  believe  it  not.  For  as  the  lightning  cometh 
forth  from  the  east  and  is  seen  even  unto  the  west,  so 
shall  be  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man."  As  Christians 
we  mlist  pity  and  pray  for  those  who  have  not  yet  found 
the  living  Christ  and  who,  in  their  impetuous  zeal,  rush 
with  Peter  from  place  to  place  in  their  restless  quest  for 
Him  Who  is  not  as  far  removed  from  them  as  thev 


EASTER  DAY  235 

imagine.  But  perhaps  our  prayers  ought  to  be  expended 
upon  ourselves  first  of  all.  Perhaps  the  Christ  has  been 
buried  by  us  in  the  tomb  of  a  fleshly  heart  where,  of 
course,  He  cannot  tarry,  from  which,  consequently,  He 
must  flee  or  be  driven  out. 

The  angel's  message  is  addressed  to  those  who  shun 
the  Christ  as  well.  How  do  you  suppose  Pilate  felt  on 
hearing  the  news  of  the  empty  tomb?  The  angel  would 
say  to  Pilate:  "He  is  not  here"  where  you  have  per- 
mitted the  body  of  Him  Whom  you  ordered  crucified  to 
be  laid  and  Pilate  is  years  older  as  he  hears  the  news. 

The  leaders  of  the  Sanhedrin  are  informed  that  the 
very  thing  they  have  sought  to  prevent  has  been  accom- 
plished. The  tomb  is  empty  in  spite  of  a  seal,  in  spite 
of  Roman  guards,  in  spite  of  every  precaution  which 
their  cunning  was  able  to  devise.  The  angel  would  say 
to  the  members  of  the  Sanhedrin  assembled  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  after  the  Sabbath:  "He  is  not  here"  and 
he  accompanies  each  of  these  dignified  hypocrites  to  a 
vantage  point  sufficiently  near  to,  yet  sufficiently  far  from 
the  tomb  as  he  whispers  in  the  hope  of  persuading  one  or 
the  other  "He  is  not  here."  Nicodemus  and  Joseph,  and 
let  us  hope  others,  too,  are  persuaded,  that  the  angel's 
message  concerns  them. 

The  camp  of  Roman  soldiers  from  whose  midst  a 
detachment  has  gone  forth  and  into  whose  midst  a  de- 
tachment has  just  returned  is  astir.  The  angel's  mes- 
sage has  been  relayed  throughout  the  camp,  "He  is  not 
here"  and  the  centurion  and  others  immediately  correct 
a  former  verdict.  Instead  of  saying  "Truly  this  was  the 
Son  of  God,"  the  centurion  is  heard  to  exclaim,  "Truly 
this  is  the  Son  of  God." 

The  day's  work  is  ended  in  the  palace  of  Caiaphas. 
The  court  is  again  astir  with  a  retinue  of  servants.  They 
had  heard  the  angel's  message,  "He  is  not  here,"  and  they 
recognize  that  perhaps  their  jeers,   their  insults,   their 


236  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

cruelty  may  have  been  unjustifiable.  The  angel's  mes- 
sage spreads  throughout  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  It 
spreads  throughout  the  regions  of  Galilee.  It  is  spoken 
of  in  Samaria  and  in  Peraea,  in  fact,  wherever  the  Christ 
was  known  while  upon  earth,  people  are  discussing  often 
behind  closed  doors  and  with  bated  breath  this  strange 
evangel  "He  is  not  here." 

The  empty  tomb  becomes  one  of  the  most  forcible 
preachers  of  all  times  as  the  angel's  voice  echoes  and  re- 
echoes from  out  its  depth  "He  is  not  here."  The  Chris- 
tian church  is  being  mustered  even  now.  Even  before  the 
festival  of  Whitsuntide  those  who  were  enemies  of  the 
Cross  of  Christ  are  receiving  their  marching  orders  and 
are  enlisting  as  they  who  have  been  won  by  the  empty 
tomb. 

Can  we  gainsay  the  import  of  this  message  to  those 
who,  in  our  own  day  and  generation,  seek  to  point  us  to 
false  Christs? 

If  the  angel  of  the  Lord  were  to  come  to  our  city  on 
this  Easter  morn,  if,  because  of  his  inability  to  find  the 
hospitable  home  of  a  believing  Abraham,  he  would  be 
compelled  to  seek  quarters  in  one  of  our  modern  hostel- 
ries,  if  assigned  to  a  table  at  which  no  blessing  is  asked, 
to  a  room  adjoining  the  apartments  of  those  engaged  in 
revelry,  to  a  place  in  the  lobby  through  which  swarming 
hosts  of  automobilists  pass  on  pleasure  bent,  surely  he 
would  be  compelled  to  exclaim,  "He  is  not  here." 

If  the  angel  of  the  Lord  were  to  visit  the  institu- 
tions of  learning  in  our  midst,  if  he  were  to  pass  from 
one  department  to  another,  from  one  class-room  to  an- 
other, from  one  laboratory  to  another,  from  one  library 
to  another,  from  one  student's  den  to  another,  how  often 
would  he  be  compelled  to  admit  "He  is  not  here."  If 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  were  to  visit  our  workshops,  active 
day  and  night,  every  day  and  every  night,  if  he  were  to 
stop  to  speak  to  those  who,  because  of  the  din  of  the 


EASTER  DAY  237 

machinery,  could  not  hear  his  voice,  he  would  be  com- 
pelled to  admit  "He  is  not  here." 

Turning  to  the  present-day  scene  of  destruction  and 
from  there  to  the  homes  of  the  instigators  of  the  terrible 
holacaust  which  is  devastating  the  world,  the  angel 
would  be  compelled  to  admit  "He  is  not  here." 

What  a  difference  there  is  between  the  original  intent 
of  the  announcement  and  its  subsequent  application.  The 
angel's  function  was  to  announce  the  resurrection  and 
consequently  the  absence  of  the  body  of  Christ  from  its 
rock-hewn  tomb.  The  original  intent  was  to  set  forth 
the  impotence  of  the  material  earth  in  its  desire  to 
absorb  and  disintegrate  the  body  of  Christ.  "He  is  not 
here"  was  not  spoken  originally  of  the  hearts  of  men, 
but  of  the  heart  of  the  material  universe  conceived  apart 
from  its  Creator.  "He  is  not  here"  is  God's  challenge 
to  materialism  and  to  those  who  have  made  materialism 
their  creed.  "He  is  not  here"  is  God's  solace  and  hope  to 
those  who  have  been  weighed  down  by  the  whisperings 
of  an  unbelieving  world.  "He  is  not  here"  is  God's 
choicest  bit  of  gospel  for  all  His  children,  not  here  in  a 
body  subject  to  corruption,  not  here  as  a  memory,  not 
here  as  a  faded  flower  or  a  withered  leaf,  but  here  as  a 
risen  Christ. 

"He  is  risen ;  He  is  not  here,"  the  two  statements  are 
akin  and  supplementary.  "He  is  risen"  was  uttered  first 
because  it  is  of  primary  importance.  "He  is  not  here" 
was  a  mere  supplementary  statement.  It  so  happened 
that  the  fundamental  message  could  not  be  adequately 
appreciated  or  understood  until  the  second  statement  had 
eaten  its  way  into  the  consciousness  of  the  women  and 
the  disciples.  They  believed  Jesus  to  be  dead  when  He 
was  not  dead,  just  as  truly  as  we  sometimes  believe  that 
we  are  possessors  of  the  risen  Christ  when  we  are  far 
removed  from  any  such  vital  touch  with  Him.  The  mes- 
sage must  be  announced  to  us  as  it  was  announced'  to  the 


238  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

women.  Our  thought  process  on  receiving  the  message 
must  be  that  of  the  women.  We  must  first  rid  ourselves 
of  the  conception  that  Christ  is  here,  part  and  parcel 
of  our  lives,  if  it  be  true  that  the  Christ  Whom  we  ought 
to  follow  is  not  the  Christ  Whom  we  have  followed. 
After  thinking  that  He  has  been  within  our  hearts  all 
this  time  there  must  come  the  rude  awakening  to  the 
fact  that,  after  all.  He  is  not  there.  When  that  fact 
dawns  upon  us,  then  we  shall  set  forth  in  our  quest  for 
Him  and  He  will  reveal  Himself  to  us  as  He  is,  our 
risen  Lord  and  Master.  "He  is  risen"  means  that  the 
Christ  W^ho  is  our  Christ  is  our  Lord  and  our  God, 
Who,  because  of  His  victory  over  death  and  grave,  'is 
entitled  to  that  supreme  place  in  our  hearts  and  lives 
which  He  and  He  alone  is  entitled  to  occupy. 

May  I  ask  you  what  are  and  where  are  the  spiritual 
springs  to  which  you  go  for  draughts  of  water  that 
ought  to  be  living  water?  May  I  ask  you  where  is  your 
Bible?  May  I  ask  you  how  often  is  it  taken  from  the 
table  upon  which  it  lies?  May  I  ask  you  whether  or  not 
you  have  a  Common  Service  Book  at  home  and  whether 
or  not  you  know  how  to  use  it?  May  I  ask  you  what 
your  church  means  to  you  ?  May  I  ask  you  what  your  fel- 
lowship with  your  brethren  in  the  faith  means  to  you? 
Would  or  would  not  the  angel  of  the  Lord,  if  he  were 
to  ask  these  questions,  be  compelled  to  write  on  your 
record  card  "He  is  not  here?" 

May  we,  in  closing,  turn  for  a  moment  to  the  record 
of  the  resurrection  preserved  by  Luke  in  which  he  quotes 
the  angel's  message  as  it  has  been  transmitted  to  him. 
"Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead?  He  is  not 
here  but  is  risen;  remember  how  he  spake  unto  you 
when  he  was  yet  in  Galilee,  saying  that  the  Son  of  man 
must  be  delivered  up  into  the  hands  of  sinful  men  and 
be  crucified  and  the  third  day  rise  again.  And  they 
remembered  his  words." 


EASTER  DAY  239 

Dear  friends,  the  great  pity  is  not  that  the  heathen 
will  not  be  adequately  represented  on  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, but  the  tragedy  of  this  and  every  Easter  celebra- 
tion is  that  the  angel  must  be  sent  into  Christian  lands 
and  Christian  churches  and  Christian  homes  with  the 
message  "He  is  not  here."  May  we,  in  this  morning 
hour,  call  to  memory  the  first  Easter  day.  May  we  recog- 
nize that  the  Lord  was  present  on  that  day  and  may  it 
be  said  of  us  and  of  our  service,  though  He  is  risen.  He  is 
here. 


XXX. 

FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER. 

John  20 :  28. 
"My  Lord  and  My  God." 

Action  and  reaction,  the  two  follow  each  other  as 
night  follows  day,  as  darkness  follows  light.  Man's 
disobedience  is  sin,  the  first  reaction  against  God's  holy 
purposes.  God's  willingness  to  cope  with  man's  sin  in 
sending  His  Son  into  the  world  is  a  subsequent  example 
of  divine  action.  Surely  there  can  be  and  will  be  no 
further  illustration  of  reaction  from  so  holy  a  love  and 
so  unexampled  a  gift,  and  yet  we  are  mistaken.  The 
glorious  announcement  of  Easter  day  is  not  to  be  ac- 
cepted unchallenged.  The  message  of  the  angel  "Be  not 
amazed;  ye  seek  Jesus,  the  Nazarene,  who  hath  been 
crucified;  he  is  risen;  he  is  not  here;  behold,  the  place 
where  they  laid  him!  But  go,  tell  his  disciples  and 
Peter,  he  goeth  before  you  into  Galilee;  there  shall  ye 
see  him,  as  he  said  unto  you,"  is  not  to  wait  for  a 
twentieth  century  challenge,  but  is  challenged  by  a  dis- 
ciple of  the  Lord  immediately  upon  his  reception  of  the 
report  that  the  Lord  is  risen.  Have  you  ever  thought 
of  the  manner  in  which  God  always  anticipates  the  dif- 
ficulties and  questionings  of  men?  Last  Sunday  every 
heart  was  attuned  to  the  gospel  for  the  day.  We  all 
felt  the  tenseness  of  the  situation.  We  had  heard  so 
much  of  the  bitter  sufferings  of  Jesus  and  of  His  cruel 
death  we  were  prepared  and  keyed  for  the  angel's  an- 
nouncement. We  needed  it  to  fill  the  very  great  want 
which  the  proclamation  of  Jesus'  passion  had  enkindled. 

240 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  241 

Then  we  went  to  our  homes  and  during  the  week  re- 
laxed a  bit  until  today  the  result  of  this  relaxation  is  evi- 
dent in  the  absence  of  a  number  of  followers  of  the 
apostle  whose  questionings  and  whose  ultimate  confes- 
sion need  to  be  considered  most  especially  by  the  very 
individuals  who  have  absented  themselves  from  the  serv- 
ices of  this  day.  The  reaction  from  the  unalloyed  joy  of 
Easter  day  is  bound  to  come.  The  question  which  this 
day's  gospel  raises  is:  Shall  there  be  an  action  to  follow 
close  upon  the  reaction  that  has  set  in,  or  shall  we  fol- 
low the  example  of  Judas?  It  is  either  despair  or  vic- 
tory. The  question  as  to  which  it  shall  be  depends  upon 
whether  or  not  we  shall  appropriate  to  ourselves  the 
story  of  Christ's  death  without  fathoming  as  well  the 
significance  of  His  resurrection.  It  was  only  by  a  pain- 
ful process  that  Thomas  advanced  from  the  former  to 
the  latter  attitude,  and  it  is  this  process  we  are  to  study 
this  morning  for  the  benefit  of  any  among  us  who  may 
have  had  the  same  misgivings  which  Thomas  experi- 
enced before  he  arrived  at  the  biggest  conclusion  of  his 
life.  The  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  must  not  be 
studied  as  we  would  study  a  bit  of  history  in  school.  It 
must  not  be  to  us  something  that  is  entirely  outside  our- 
selves. The  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection  must  be  to  me 
the  very  center  of  my  religious  thought.  It  must  be  such 
an  integral  part  of  my  personality  that,  with  Job,  I  shall 
simply  be  forced  to  exclaim:  *T  know  that  my  redeemer 
liveth."  To  thwart  any  possible  reaction  the  Christians 
of  the  first  century  extended  their  Easter  celebration  to 
this  day,  and  on  this  day  the  newly  confirmed  members 
of  the  church  received  their  first  communion.  On  this 
day  the  service  of  the  early  church  was  begun  with  the 
Introit:  "As  newborn  babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk  of 
the  Word."  Can  there  be  a  more  urgent  appeal  addressed' 
to  all  those  who,  because  of  the  experiences  of  this  sea- 
son, are  newborn?    This  then  is  to  be  our  greeting  this 


242  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

morning:  as  those  who  are  newly  born,  may  you  each 
and  every  one  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  Word.  May 
you  each  and  every  one  appropriate  to  yourselves  this 
greatest  of  all  the  facts  of  the  ages  just  as  naturally  and 
as  sincerely  as  the  child  receives  and  appropriates  to  its 
use  the  gifts  which  loving  parents  bestow  upon  it.  May 
the  Word  of  God  be  both  food  and  drink  to  those  who 
cannot  get  along  without  it.  The  arrival  of  Thomas  at 
the  stature  of  Christian  manhood  was  only  achieved  by  a 
slow  and  tortuous  process.  He  has  been  bitterly  attacked 
for  his  doubt  by  some  and  has  been  as  warmly  defended 
for  his  persistency  by  others.  I  am  inclined  to  feel  that, 
though  Jesus  rebukes  his  unbelief,  nevertheless  the  story 
is  preserv^ed  by  John  for  the  encouragement,  rather  than 
the  estrangement  of  those  who  find  themselves  in  equal 
predicaments.  May  God  help  them  to  be  equally  per- 
sistent, equally  honest  and  ultimately  equally  victorious. 
The  expression  "my  Lord  and  my  God"  has  frequently 
been  interpreted  as  a  spontaneous  outburst  on  the  part 
of  one  as  suddenly  converted  as  was  the  apostle  Paul. 
Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  truth.  There  was  noth- 
ing spontaneous  about  the  confession.  It  was  but  the  audi- 
ble confession  which  came  naturally  as  the  result  of  a 
long-continued,  earnest  yearning.  No  one  can  question 
and  no  one  has  questioned  the  honesty  of  Thomas.  His 
disposition  made  it  very  difficult  and  trying  for  him  to  fit 
in  with  his  new  environment.  The  very  fact  that  John  is 
the  only  one  of  the  recorders  of  the  gospel  narrative  who 
has  thought  it  worth  while  to  let  us  see  the  workings  of 
the  mind  of  Thomas  is  noteworthy.  John  could  not  have 
stressed  the  incidents  concerning  Thomas  which  he  has 
noted  if  John  had  not  approached  the  problems  of 
Thomas  in  a  sympathetic  frame  of  mind.  It  is  important 
for  us,  therefore,  to  remember  that  the  confession  which 
later  arose  to  the  lips  of  Thomas  expressed  itself  first  of 
all  in  his  life  as  an  earnest  yearning,  an  earnest  desire. 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  243 

In  so  far  he  was  infinitely  ahead  of  some  so-called  Chris- 
tians who  have  taken  and  are  taking  their  Christianity 
in  a  very  matter-of-fact  way  and  he  was  infinitely  re- 
moved from  that  large  class  of  doubters  which  has  ex- 
perienced no  such  desire  and  whose  only  purpose  seems 
to  be  to  refute  the  statements  of  the  Word  of  God. 

Thomas  was  not  alone  among  the  disciples.  He  is  the 
most  conspicuous  example  of  a  tendency  rather  than  the 
sole  representative  of  doubt.  We  must  bear  in  mind  that, 
though  the  Lord  has  repeatedly  indicated  to  His  dis- 
ciples that  He  would  arise  from  the  dead,  they  did  not 
comprehend  His  statements.  More  than  that,  they  made 
absolutely  no  effort  to  understand  His  utterances  on  this 
subject.  The  one  or  two  seeming  attempts  to  grasp  His 
message  are  undoubtedly  to  be  interpreted  as  the  efforts 
of  men  out  of  sympathy  with  the  inner  life  of  the  Master. 
They  doubted  the  literalness  of  His  statements.  They 
doubted  the  assertion  that  He  would  rise  from  the  dead. 
Their  doubt  was  unbelief.  Mark  distinctly  informs  us 
that  Jesus  afterward  appeared  unto  the  eleven  as  they  sat 
at  meat,  and  upbraided  them  with  their  unbelief  and  hard- 
ness of  heart,  because  they  believed  not  them  which  had 
seen  Him  after  He  was  risen.  Thomas  was,  therefore, 
not  alone  in  his  unbelief.  The  band,  of  which  but  one 
remained  true  to  his  Lord  during  His  passion,  was  in- 
fected with  hardness  of  heart.  This  coldness  on  the 
part  of  His  disciples  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  greatest 
trials  Jesus  had  to  bear.  Thomas  is  certainly  superior  to 
the  majority  of  the  disciples.  Though  honestly  doubt- 
ing many  of  the  statements  made  by  his  Master,  he  en- 
deavored to  approach  every  question  openly.  The 
earnest  yearning  of  his  heart  to  accommodate  himself  to 
Christ  and  to  follow  Him  is  nowhere  more  apparent  than 
in  the  incident  recorded  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the 
gospel  according  to  John.  Lazarus  of  Bethany  was  sick 
unto  death  when  his  sisters  sent  word  to  Jesus  asking 


244  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Him  to  come  and  heal  their  brother,  Lazarus  had  died 
before  Jesus  started  upon  the  journey.  Jesus  knew  that 
he  had  died  before  He  set  forth  with  His  disciples  for 
Bethany.  He  knew  and  His  disciples  knew  of  the  danger 
involved  in  leaving  Peraea  and  going  back  to  Judaea 
where  the  Jews  were  on  the  lookout  for  Him.  When  He 
told  the  disciples  of  His  decision  to  return  to  Judaea 
they  held  a  little  conference,  and  it  was  Thomas  who  ex- 
pressed his  willingness  to  return  with  Christ,  though 
he  believed  the  only  outcome  of  the  trip  would  be  the 
death  of  Christ  and  their  own  death  as  well.  To  quote 
his  own  words:  "Let  us  also  go,  that  we  may  die  with 
Him."  There  was  no  sneer  in  these  words,  no  desire 
to  attempt  to  dissuade  the  disciples  from  their  under- 
taking, no  flinching.  He,  more  than  they,  had  thought 
through  the  problem  and  he,  more  than  they,  was  willing 
to  assume  the  consequences  of  his  decision.  There  was 
enough  love  in  his  heart  for  Jesus  to  desire  to  follow 
Christ  even  into  death  though  he  might,  of  course,  have 
turned  from  the  enterprise  and  might  have  forsaken  the 
band  if  he  had  been  convinced  of  the  folly  of  the  under- 
taking. His  very  statement,  his  calm  decision,  these 
indicate  the  pull  of  Jesus'  personality  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  letting  go. 

In  varying  degrees  this  pull  of  Jesus'  personality  has 
made  itself  felt  in  all  lives  that  have  seriously  and  con- 
scientiously approached  His  life.  The  pull  has  not  been 
equally  strong  in  all  lives.  It  has  not  been  strong  enough 
in  the  lives  of  some  who  have  deliberately  sought  to  resist 
it,  but  even  they  have  yielded  more  than  they  care  to 
admit. 

The  earnest  yearning  of  the  disciple  manifests  itself 
in  his  admission  of  the  unfathomableness  of  the  plan  of 
Jesus  or  the  purpose  of  Jesus.  When  in  the  wonderful 
last  discourses  of  Jesus  with  His  disciples  the  Master  has 
said  to  them:     "And  whither  I  go  ye  know,  and  the 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  245 

way  ye  know,"  it  was  Thomas  who  said:     ''Lord,  we 
know  not  whither  thou  goest,  and  how  can  we  know  the 
way?"     These  words  gain  in  importance  as  we  rememr 
ber  they  were  not  uttered  by  the  thoughtless  Peter,  but 
by  the  thoughtful  Thomas.     And  now  Jesus  had  been 
crucified.     Thomas  may  have  witnessed  the  crucifixion. 
He  had  very  likely  heard  of  the  report  of  the  women 
concerning  the  empty  grave  during  the  day  of  the  resur- 
rection.    If  so,  we  do  not  know  why  he  did  not  attend 
the  meeting  of  the  disciples  on  the  evening  of  that  day. 
It  was  because  of  his  hesitancy  to  be  present,  because  of 
the  fact  that  he  did  not  associate  with  the  disciples  at 
a  time  when  he  most  needed  the  solace  of  their  inter- 
course that  he  was  not  present  when  Jesus  appeared  in 
their  midst  and  breathed  His  "peace  be  unto  you"  upon 
them.     Perhaps,  dear  friends,   for  similar  reasons  you 
may  have  missed  the  help  and  the  comfort  which  Jesus 
could  have  offered  you  had  you  been  present  on  some 
days  on  which  you  were  absent  from  His  House.     The 
long-continued  brooding  of  Thomas  has  led  to  the  result 
to  which  such  brooding  must  inevitably  lead.     He  will 
no  longer  accept  the  evidence  of  his  friends.     He  no 
longer  trusts  them.    He  must  see  for  himself  and  experi- 
ence for  himself  the  blessings  which  they  possess.    "Ex- 
cept I  shall  see  in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and 
put  my  fingers  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  thrust  my 
hand  into  His  side,  I  will  not  believe."     These  words 
seem   very  reasonable  to  some.     They  mark  the   cold 
logician,  the  matter-of-fact  man.     They  typif>  the  man 
who  will  be  guided  only  by  his  brain,  who,  because  of 
the  many  deceptions  and  delusions  to  which  he  has  been 
subjected,  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  anything  that 
cannot  be  tested  and  found  true  to  sense-perception.   And 
yet  we  ask,  whither  does  such  a  religion  of  and  for  the 
intellect  lead?     Thomas  had   forgotten  that  all  things 
rnust  be  tested  by  the  heart  as  well  as  by  the  head,  and 


246  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

that  things  that  do  not  appear  clear  when  treated  either 
as  matters  of  the  head  or  heart  exclusively  become  lumin- 
ous when  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  the  whole  man. 
Thomas  had  forgotten  the  power  over  death  which  Jesus 
manifested  in  his  presence.  He  had  forgotten  that  Jesus 
said  to  him,  "I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life." 
How  was  it  that  Thomas  forgot  so  absolutely  in  this 
crisis  that  Jesus  was  Himself  the  Prince  of  Life?  We 
are  led  to  admit  that  the  faith  of  Thomas  was  not  a 
strong  faith,  not  as  yet  a  living  faith,  but  thank  God 
there  was  still  a  spark  of  faith  in  his  heart.  If  there 
had  not  been  he  would  not  have  allied  himself  with  his 
old  comrades  a  week  after  the  resurrection.  Jesus  had 
not  reappeared  in  the  meantime.  He  did  not  know  that 
He  would  reappear.  He  was  still  receptive  to  the  truth. 
Though  he  had  frankly  and  openly  confessed  that  he 
would  not  believe  until  he  had  seen,  he  did  not  shut  him- 
self off  from  those  influences  which  were  necessary  to 
the  quickening  of  his  faith.  The  confession  which  he  was 
about  to  utter  was,  as  we  have  said,  that  of  one  who  had 
not  come  upon  a  great  truth  suddenly,  but  of  one  who 
had  meditated  for  years  upon  the  probability  of  what 
he  was  about  to  confess  as  a  certainty. 

There  in  the  hall  in  which  they  had  assembled  a  week 
before  are  the  ten  who  had  seen  Christ,  and  this  time 
Thomas  is  with  them.  The  scene  is  to  be  repeated  in  its 
exact  original  setting.  The  doors  are  shut.  The  Master 
appears  unto  them.  Again  He  utters  that  welcome  greet- 
ing and  blessing,  "Peace  be  unto  you."  The  moment  of 
suspense  was  critical.  What  would  Jesus  say  to  Thomas  ? 
Would  He  again  receive  him  into  the  band  of  believing 
disciples?  The  suspense  was  not  to  be  prolonged.  Com- 
passionate as  Christ  ever  was,  yet  fully  recognizing  the 
necessity  of  justice,  He  saw  the  conflicts  which  were 
surging  in  the  breast  of  the  storm-tossed  disciple.  Upon 
Thomas,  therefore,  the  command  was  enjoined :    "Reach 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  247 

hither  thy  finger,  and  behold  my  hands ;  and  reach  hither 
thy  hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side,  and  be  not  faith- 
less, but  believing."  The  voice,  plus  the  sight,  proved 
too  much  for  the  disciple.  Before  him  stands  He  Who 
in  His  body  bears  the  print  of  the  nails  and  the  v^ound 
inflicted  by  the  spear.  More  than  that,  before  him  stands 
the  Christ  Who  predicted  over  and  over  again  that  He 
would  arise  from  the  dead.  As  there  has  been  a  moment 
of  suspense,  an  expectancy  on  the  part  of  both  Jesus  and 
His  disciple  and  the  ten  who  were  witnesses  of  the  un- 
usual scene,  there  is  a  moment  of  suspense  for  us.  The 
suspense  is  not  to  be  prolonged,  for  the  faith  of  the  well- 
nigh  lost  disciple  was  quickened  through  the  tremendous 
influence  of  the  God-man.  His  language  is  not  over- 
drawn. As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  feels  the  difiiculty  of 
properly  expressing  his  inmost  feelings.  Hence  his 
words  are  the  feeble  echo  of  an  awakened  recognition  of 
the  truth.  His  speech  came  as  the  spontaneous  outpour- 
ing of  a  soul  flooded  with  new  life.  The  words  become 
doubly  important  if  we  view  them  as  the  aftermath  of  a 
fierce  conflict.  They  were  not  the  outburst  of  a  momen- 
tary ecstasy.  They  were  not  the  resultant  of  a  modern 
revival.  They  were  the  resultant  of  a  very  real  tribula- 
tion on  the  part  of  one  who,  though  he  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  band  of  disciples  of  Jesus,  had,  nevertheless, 
always  persevered  in  a  state  of  doubt  concerning  his  posi- 
tion. Words  such  as  these,  uttered  under  the  circumstan- 
ces which  called  them  forth,  can  only  be  interpreted  as  the 
confession  of  a  truly  believing  disciple.  His  victory  over 
unbelief  is  not  a  clean-cut,  thornless  victory.  Before  he 
is  permitted  to  enter  fully  upon  the  privileges  of  disciple- 
ship  he  must  face  his  Lord's  rebuke.  And  it  is  his  wil- 
lingness to  face  that  rebuke  which  proves  the  complete- 
ness of  his  regeneration.  His  willingness  to  surrender 
an  untenable  position  marks  him  as  one  in  whom  the 
Lord  had  not  trusted  in  vain. 


248  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

It  has  again  been  our  privilege  to  celebrate  the  week 
in  which  we  commemorate  the  passion  and  death  of  our 
Lord.  It  has  again  been  our  privilege  to  listen  to  the 
message  of  His  resurrection.  Can  we  remain  passive? 
Can  we  be  told  this  story  year  after  year  and  be  deaf  to 
the  great  love  of  the  Savior?  Have  we  or  have  we  not 
been  led  with  Thomas  to  the  crucial  moment  in  our  lives 
when  it  simply  becomes  necessary  with  Thomas  to  ex- 
claim: "My  Lord  and  my  God?"  Israel  linked  the  two 
terms  and  spoke  of  the  Lord  God  in  designating  Jehovah. 
Yet  there  is  a  difference,  for  to  them  God  was  not  as 
close  as  He  was  to  Thomas.  To  them  He  appeared  to  be 
a  strange,  far-away  God.  The  difference  between  their 
conception  of  God  and  that  of  Thomas  is  contained  in  the 
little  personal  pronoun  which  Thomas  employs,  a  pronoun 
which  they  employed  for  Israel  conjointly,  but  which  they 
never,  except  in  rare  instances,  applied  to  the  individual. 
To  us,  as  to  Thomas,  this  God  is  my  God,  this  Lord  is  my 
Lord.  He  is  my  Lord  and  my  God  because  "He  has  re- 
deemed me,  a  lost  and  condemned  creature,  secured  and 
delivered  me  from  all  sins,  from  death  and  from  the 
power  of  the  devil,  not  with  silver  and  gold,  but  with  His 
holy  and  precious  blood  and  with  His  innocent  suffering 
and  death,  in  order  that  I  might  be  His,  live  under  Him  in 
His  Kingdom,  and  serve  Him  in  everlasting  righteous- 
ness, innocence  and  blessedness,  even  as  He  is  risen  from 
the  dead  and  lives  and  reigns  to  all  eternity.  This  is 
most  certainly  true."  The  first  personal  pronoun  must 
be  emphasized,  but  so  emphasized  that  it  is  lost  in  the 
following  nouns:  The  Lord  is  my  Lord.  God  is  my 
God.  In  recognizing  this  fact,  I  resign  myself  entirely 
into  His  keeping  and  enjoy  completely  and  unequivocally 
the  Christian  liberty  which  is  the  heritage  of  all  true  be- 
lievers. This  unequivocal  acceptance  of  Christ  led  to 
the  celebration  of  Holy  Communion  in  the  early  church 
on  this  day  because  in  this  act  Christ  and  the  believer  are 


FIRST  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  249 


at  one.  Our  strength  is  in  Him.  Our  life  is  in  Him. 
"He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life;  he  that  hath  not  the 
Son  of  God  hath  not  the  life." 


XXXI. 
SECOND   SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER 

John  io:  ii. 

"I  am  the  good  shepherd ;  the  good  shepherd  layeth  down  his  life 
for  the  sheep." 

"The  Lord  is  my  shepherd;  I  shall  not  want."  In  an 
abandon  of  trust  so  unqualified,  so  unreserved,  so  abso- 
lute, a  king  tottering  to  the  grave,  once  a  youthful  shep- 
herd boy  watching  the  flocks  of  his  father  upon  the  plains 
hard  by  the  little  town  of  Bethlehem,  poured  forth  the 
intensity,  the  depth,  the  loveliness  of  his  religious  con- 
sciousness in  the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  Whom  he 
sang.  It  is  little  wonder  the  prayer  has  reverberated  down 
the  ages.  In  this  beautiful  lyric  he  has  expressed  nobly, 
sincerely  and  adequately  the  passionate  love  of  the  true 
believer  for  his  shepherd.  In  this  lyric  he  has  not  only 
opened  his  heart  to  God  but  to  all  the  world  as  well. 

As  the  sheep  committed  to  David's  keeping  were 
secure,  so  the  shepherd  boy,  the  defender  of  his  father's 
flock  from  robbers  and  wild  beasts,  was  equally  secure 
because  he  too  had  a  shepherd  in  whose  vigilance  he 
trusted  with  the  same  degree  of  confidence  which  the 
sheep  manifested  toward  him,.  Is  it  too  much  to  say 
that  David  was  what  he  was  in  after  life  because  early 
in  life  he  mastered  a  lesson  which  his  vocation  taught 
him  ?  In  the  presence  of  Goliath  it  was  this  trust  in  the 
Lord  his  shepherd  which  made  him  victorious.  In  the 
presence  of  Saul  torn  by  the  evil  spirit,  the  good  spirit 
of  the  Lord  in  the  bosom  of  David  averted  the  deadly 
spear  and  the  deadlier  hatred.    In  the  presence  of  Nathan 

250 


SECOND   SUNDAY  AFTER   EASTER  251 

the  one-time  trust,  forgotten  in  a  moment  of  weakness, 
was  rekindled  as  the  thought  of  this  merciful  shepherd 
brought  to  shamje  within  him  the  thought  of  the  robber 
of  his  poor  neighbor's  lamb.  Confronted  by  a  mutinous 
son  the  refrain  rings  in  his  ear  and  thus  throughout  life 
to  its  very  close,  though  chastened  and  subdued,  no 
longer  the  buoyancy  of  youth  but  now  the  vigor  of  vic- 
torious old  age  causes  the  singing  of  the  shepherd  psalm 
"the  Lord  is  my  shepherd  I  shall  not  want". 

What  a  blessed  faith  this  is  which  can  cling  to  its 
Lord  in  sorrow  and  in  joy,  for  if  it  is  thus  tenacious 
the  Lord  will  prove  its  efficacy.  If  this  be  our  faith  He 
will  assuredly  appear  to  us  as  He  appeared  not  only  to 
David  but  to  the  little  band  of  disciples,  breathing  His 
benediction  upon  them,  blessing  them  as  He  utters  the 
significant  promise  "peace  be  unto  you".  Of  course,  He 
did  not  mean  temporal  peace.  He  did  not  mean  that  at 
last  the  day  of  Israel's  temporal  redemption  had  dawned. 
As  He  spoke  these  words  they  must  have  remembered 
that  sometime  before  He  said  to  them  "peace  I  leave  with 
you ;  my  peace  I  give  unto  you :  not  as  the  world  giveth 
give  I  unto  you".  He  has  endured  the  cross.  The  dis- 
ciples must  take  it  and  bear  it  too.  They  must  endure 
persecution,  tribulation,  anguish,  famine,  nakedness, 
peril,  sword.  They  must  be  accounted  as  sheep  for  the 
slaughter  but  in  all  these  things  they  will  be  more  than 
conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  them.  The  peace 
which  is  to  make  possible  the  spread  of  the  gospel  and 
the  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  upon  earth 
is  a  peace  no  one  can  take  from  them  for  it  is  the  peace 
of  God  which  passeth  understanding.  As  shepherds  the 
apostles  are  to  go  forth  to  bring  all  nations  to  the  true 
shepherd. 

It  was  not  strange  that  Jesus  delighted  in  using  this 
picture  of  oriental  life  to  portray  one  of  the  greatest 
lessons  He  had  to  teach.     The  figure  of  the  shepherd 


252  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

loomed  large  in  the  life  of  the  east.  Jesus  transfigured  it, 
changed  its  symbolism,  as  He  was  a  bit  later  to  change 
the  symbolism  of  the  lamb  into  a  truer,  higher  signifi- 
cance. The  shepherd  must  be  to  his  sheep  and  his  lambs 
what  the  mother  is  to  her  child,  a  constant  monitor,  a 
constant  protector,  ever  watchful  lest  the  obstacles  in 
their  path  be  too  great  to  be  surmounted.  Here  there  are 
stones  which  may  prove  hurtful  and  need  to  be  removed. 
There  is  a  ditch  which  must  be  filled  in  lest  the  lambs 
fall  into  it.  In  yonder  meadows  there  is  better  pasturage. 
The  way  across  is  a  bit  dangerous,  but  it  must  be  under- 
taken. The  sheep  are  thirsty  and  need  to  be  led  to  the 
still  waters.  The  shepherd  is  tired.  He  ought  to  rest, 
but  just  as  he  is  about  to  turn  over  his  post  to  another 
for  a  little  while,  he  observes  a  wolf  prowling  in  the 
vicinity  and  he  finds  it  necessary  to  postpone  his  rest 
and  continue  his  vigil.  The  battle  with  the  wolf  is  immi- 
nent. The  outcome  means  the  sacrifice  of  a  life,  either 
the  life  of  the  shepherd  or  the  life  of  the  wolf. 

The  shepherd's  life  is  pre-eminently  the  life  of  Jesus, 
It  is  the  life  of  His  disciples  as  well.  Their  task  is  to 
be  that  of  going  forth  into  the  world  to  gather  and  pre- 
serve the  fold.  In  those  early  days  of  persecution  and 
distress  which  dawned  in  their  crimson  wierdness  on  a 
world  that  was  awakening  from  troubled  dreams  there 
were  many  incursions  among  the  flock.  The  morning 
light  disclosed  the  slain  form  of  many  a  shepherd  and  the 
bloody  traces  of  the  depredation  wrought  by  the  wolf  in 
his  nightly  prowlings.  That  the  flock  was  able  to  in- 
crease under  conditions  such  as  these,  that  new  shep- 
herds were  found,  willing  to  take  the  places  of  those 
slain  on  the  preceding  night,  these  facts  stand  for  the 
power  of  Christianity.  Throughout  all  the  centuries 
from  the  days  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  present  day  the 
battle  between  the  wolves  and  the  one  Shepherd  has 
been  going  on.     At  times  it  has  seemed  almost  as  if  the 


SECOND   SUNDAY   AFTER   EASTER  253 

wolf  must  be  successful,  but  just  at  such  moments  a  well- 
directed  javelin  thrust  from  the  Lord's  own  hand  has 
shielded  the  flock  from  imminent  danger.  It  may  not  be 
amiss  to  contrast  the  hireling  and  the  true  shepherd  and 
then  ask  ourselves  just  what  is  expected  of  the  flock  to 
which  we  belong  to  facilitate  the  shepherd's  task. 

We  must  have  hirelings  just  as  long  as  we  live  in  a 
world  which  is  imperfect  in  its  social  adjustments.  Let 
us  be  absolutely  sure  we  know  just  what  we  mean  by 
the  term.  We  do  not  mean  any  and  every  one  in  the 
service  of  another.  Though  that  is  the  literal  meaning 
of  the  term,  it  was  not  in  this  sense  that  Jesus  employed 
it.  Undoubtedly  there  were  many  shepherds  in  the 
orient  who  though  they  did  not  own  the  sheep,  literally 
speaking,  did  have  a  share  in  the  ownership  of  those 
sheep  because  of  the  very  personal  interest  they  took 
in  them.  Such  shepherds,  employed  by  others  and  re- 
ceiving compensation  for  their  labors,  were  decidedly 
not  hirelings.  The  men  and  women  of  today  who 
are  engaged  in  doing  the  world's  work  by  others  and 
who  receive  their  compensation  from  others  for  the  per- 
formance of  honest  duty  adequately  well  done  in  an  in- 
terested manner  are  not  hirelings.  Christ  distinguishes 
between  the  men  and  women  whose  sole  endeavor  is 
to  gain  a  livelihood  in  the  easiest  possible  manner  and 
the  men  and  women  who  are  unafraid  of  hard  work, 
who  court  hard  work  and  large  responsibilities  as  the 
way  in  which  they  can  fulfil  their  mission  here  on  earth. 
Rebekah  and  Rachel  drawing  water  and  caring  for  the 
flocks  and  herds  of  their  fathers  are  not  hirelings.  Moses, 
keeping  the  flock  of  Jethro  his  father-in-law,  the  priest 
of  Midian,  is  no  hireling.  David,  the  son  of  Jesse, 
keeping  his  father's  sheep  is  no  hireling.  And  yet  they 
are  not  the  real  owners  of  the  sheep. 

The  oriental  hireling  and  the  occidental  hireling,  the 
hireling  of  Jesus'  day  and  of  our  day  are  alike  in  this 


254  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

that  they  have  little  or  no  interest  in  what  they  are 
doing.  Their  time  is  equally  divided  between  the  sheep- 
folds  and  the  market-place.  In  the  market-place  they 
lounge  and  spend  their  wages  and  wait  for  further  em- 
ployment. While  employed  they  wait  for  the  passing 
of  the  time  for  which  they  have  been  employed.  The  re- 
quirements of  the  true  shepherd  in  engaging  their 
services  are  not  unreasonable.  He  asks  of  them  that 
they  discharge  the  duties  which  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  real 
shepherd.  They  are  to  lead  and  provide  for  the  sheep. 
They  are  to  sustain  a  sympathetic  relationship  to  both 
the  shepherd  and  the  sheep.  They  are  to  learn  to  know 
the  sheep.  They  are  to  prove  faithful  in  times  of  emerg- 
ency. But  see  how  disappointed  the  shepherd  is  bound 
to  be  as  he  realizes  that  his  hopes,  his  requests,  his  rea- 
sonable expectations  have  been  ignored.  "He  that  is 
a  hireling  and  not  a  shepherd,  whose  own  the  sheep  are 
not,  beholdeth  the  wolf  coming,  and  leaveth  the  sheep, 
and  fleeth,  and  the  wolf  snatcheth  them,  and  scattereth 
them:  he  fleeth  because  he  is  a  hireling,  and  careth  not 
for  the  sheep."  The  cowardliness,  the  coldness,  the 
traitorism,  the  criminality  of  it  all  is  simply  appalling. 
The  reason  is  after  all  very  plain  "he  careth  not  for  the 
sheep".  How  can  you  expect  anything  else?  The  rule 
thus  indicated  applies  of  course  to  the  extension  or  limi- 
tation of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth  and  it  is  to  this 
the  Lord  would  direct  our  attention.  Why  is  it  that 
things  are  as  they  are  in  the  spiritual  realm?  Why  are 
there  so  few  real  workers  for  Christ?  Simply  because 
in  our  ranks  there  are  so  many  hirelings.  You  will  not 
mistake  my  meaning.  Though  false  teachers  are  often 
spoken  of  as  hirelings,  we  are  not  at  this  point  thinking 
of  false  teachers,  however  pernicious  their  influence  may 
be.  Nor  are  we  thinking  of  the  many  men  and  women 
who  are  drawing  salaries  for  the  work  they  are  supposed 
to  be  doing  in  the  Vineyard  who  are  acquitting  themselves 


SECOND   SUNDAY   AFTER   EASTER  255 

simply  as  hirelings.  We  are  thinking  and  we  must  think 
today  of  the  many  men  and  women  who  have  accepted 
Christ  in  their  baptism  and  confirmation  and  in  the  re- 
ception of  the  Holy  Communion  and  who  go  forth  from 
the  services  of  the  House  of  God  to  live  solely  unto 
themselves,  who  because  they  are  not  salaried  officers  of 
the  church  feel  they  have  a  perfect  right  to  flee  from 
responsibility  and  danger — men  and  women  who  act  in 
this  way  are  hirelings.  Hirelings  are  false  prophets 
whether  they  be  in  the  pulpit  or  in  the  pew.  Hirelings 
are  lazy,  shiftless,  indolent  disdainers  of  the  duties  which 
they  owe  to  him  in  whose  service  they  stand.  The  picture 
of  the  hireling  presented  by  the  Lord  is  tragical  in  the 
extreme.  Before  us  is  the  flock  scenting  danger,  in  the 
distance  the  wolf  whose  evil  intent  is  unmistakable,  and 
separating  himself  from  the  flock,  not  in  the  direction 
of  the  threatening  danger,  but  in  the  direction  of  per- 
sonal safety  we  see  the  despicable  coward  whose  title 
has  become  the  synonym  for  traitorism.  His  duty  as 
he  sees  it  is  to  save  himself.  His  life  is  worth  more — 
to  him  and  to  him  only — than  many  flocks  of  sheep. 
What  matters  it  to  him  if  the  sheep  suffer?  What  mat- 
ters it  if  this  catastrophe  undermines  the  health  and  hap- 
piness of  many  people  dependent  upon  these  very  flocks? 
It  is  for  himself  that  he  cares.  "He  careth  not  for  the 
sheep".  Can  you  not  see  how  contemptible  such  a  view 
of  life  really  is?  Are  there  any  hirelings  in  this  church 
this  day? 

Turning  from  this  picture  may  I  ask  you  for  a  few 
moments  to  consider  the  details  of  that  other  picture 
presented  in  this  same  lesson?  The  picture  of  the  good 
shepherd,  a  picture  which  teaches  the  lesson  of  love  and 
devotion  more  beautifully  and  tenderly  than  perhaps  any 
other?  The  flock  before  us  consists  of  the  same  help- 
less animals  we  saw  but  a  moment  ago.  The  background 
is  exactly  the  same,  the  same  fertile,  green  meadows. 


256  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

the  same  silent  waters,  the  same  enclosures  for  seasons 
of  danger,  and  yet  how  wonderfully  different  this  pic- 
ture is.  Of  course  you  know  why !  It  is  simply  because 
there  is  a  different  figure  in  the  fore-ground.  You  need 
not  be  told  of  this  transformation.  It  is  very  evident. 
The  sheep  no  longer  huddled  together  in  fear  about  their 
leaders  are  grazing  peacefully  and  trustfully.  The 
mothers  of  the  flock  no  longer  bleating  in  anguish  as 
they  realize  the  danger  of  their  unprotected  lambs,  are 
bleating  in  joy  because  of  the  tender  care  of  the  good 
shepherd.  We  need  not  be  told  that  He  is  the  good 
shepherd.  We  need  not  be  told  that  a  good  shepherd 
layeth  down  his  life  for  his  sheep.  We  need  not  be  told 
that  this  good  shepherd  knows  every  one  of  his  sheep 
by  name,  an  actual  fact  in  oriental  life.  We  need  not 
be  told  that  this  shepherd  has  other  sheep  for  we  know 
that  His  love  is  sufficiently  extensive  to  include  flocks 
other  than  the  one  in  the  foreground.  Perhaps  the  most 
striking  feature  in  this  picture  is  the  readiness  and  wil- 
lingness on  the  part  of  the  good  shepherd  to  serve.  As 
shepherd  he  must  lead  the  flock,  but  as  shepherd  he  must 
also  serve  the  flock  and  this  service  must  be  in  inverse 
ratio  to  the  ability  of  the  members  of  the  flock  to  take 
care  of  themselves.  Has  this  not  been  the  experience  of 
Christianity,  the  help  of  God  ever  extended  first  to  the 
weak  and  the  poor,  and  yet  a  sufficient  leadership,  a 
sufficient  grace  for  the  tutored  and  the  rich?  The  Nico- 
demuses  and  the  Josephs  of  Arimathea  of  our  day  will 
place  no  obstacles  in  the  way  of  such  leadership.  On  the 
other  hand,  ought  we  not  expect  them  to  help  in  the 
realization  of  this  program? 

Satan,  a  very  real  Satan,  is  the  wolf  who  is  endeavor- 
ing to  overthrow  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord.  "The  ful- 
ness of  time"  meant  among  other  things  the  fulness  of 
his  time,  the  time  when  of  all  times  the  battle  must  be 
fought,  a  very  propitious  time  for  the  powers  of  dark- 


SECOND   SUNDAY   AFTER   EASTER  257 

ness  to  do  their  worst.  Jesus  came  into  the  world  in 
the  fulness  of  time  because  the  world  was  full  of  hire- 
lings unable  to  cope  with  the  situation,  unable  to  set  up 
the  standard  of  righteousness,  unable  to  put  down  sin. 
John  the  Baptist  could  never  have  done  what  Jesus  did. 
John's  work  was  negative.  It  was  to  tear  down  idols, 
to  set  forth  the  existence  and  the  ugliness  of  sin.  The 
work  of  Jesus  was  to  substitute  righteousness  for  sm,  to 
enthrone  God  in  the  places  from  which  John  had  re- 
moved the  idols.  Jesus  is  the  one  true  shepherd  because 
He  alone,  the  only-begotten  Son  of  God,  endures  test 
after  test,  emerging  victorious  after  every  battle.  The 
prophets  have  fought  well,  but  they  have  not  won  their 
battles  consistently.  There  has  been  a  capitulation  at 
a  critical  moment  which  has  necessitated  the  continuation 
of  the  campaign  under  a  different  leadership.  Jesus  is 
the  good  shepherd  because  He  and  He  alone  has  entered 
fully  into  the  life  problems  of  every  single  soul  in  this 
world.  He  is  the  good  shepherd  because  He  has  laid 
down  His  life  for  the  sheep,  in  place  of  the  sheep. 

The  story  of  the  good  shepherd  holds  out  no  appeal 
to  those  who  value  a  story  only  because  of  its  intel- 
lectual worth.  It  is  true  the  life  of  the  oriental  shep- 
herd so  dominates  the  clime  in  which  he  thrives  we  could 
readily  spend  a  long  time  in  becoming  acquainted  with 
the  various  details  of  the  career  so  prominently  pic- 
tured in  the  Bible.  The  real  and  vital  appeal  of  this 
story  is  to  the  heart.  The  vocation  of  the  good  shepherd 
is  not  his  profession  coldly  conceived,  the  vocation  of 
the  good  shepherd  is  as  the  term  indicates  His  call  to 
the  only  sphere  in  life  which  appeals  to  Him.  To  under- 
stand the  story  of  the  good  shepherd  we  must  on  the 
one  hand  be  students  of  the  prose  of  life,  but  on  the  other 
hand  we  dare  not  be  ignorant  of  its  poetry.  The  rela- 
tion which  the  lone  hunter  sustains  to  the  faithful  dog 
that  accompanies  him  into  solitary  wilds,  the  relation 


258  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

which  the  Arabian  nomad  sustains  to  his  steed,  the  re- 
lation which  the  shepherd  sustains  to  his  sheep,  these  are 
relationships  of  conscious,  devoted  love  on  the  part  of 
man  toward  the  animal  world,  reflected  in  the  devoted 
love  which  God  sustains  toward  the  creature.  The  hunter 
dies  with  his  dog.  The  Arab  dies  with  his  steed,  but 
the  shepherd  dies  for  his  sheep. 


XXXII. 
THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER. 

John  i6:  i6. 
"A  Little  While." 

The  Easter  Cycle  of  Sundays,  to  which  this  day  be- 
longs, is  a  most  important  season  of  the  Christian  year, 
because  it  reviews  the  promises  of  the  Lord  in  the  light 
of  their  fulfilment  and  repeats  unfulfilled  promises  based 
upon  an  authority  which  cannot  be  questioned.  Quite 
naturally  our  minds  revert  to  the  now  distant  past  as  we 
read  the  Easter  story.  We  are  brought  but  eight  days 
further  on  our  journey  as  we  read  the  Gospel  lesson  for 
the  Sunday  following  Easter,  the  story  of  a  morose  dis- 
ciple who  is  forced  to  believe.  The  story  of  the  good 
shepherd  again  carries  us  back  to  an  oriental  environment 
of  an  early  day.  The  lesson  for  this  day,  recorded  in 
the  sixteenth  chapter  of  the  gospel  according  to  John, 
bids  us  revert  to  the  night  preceding  the  crucifixion  and 
re-study  the  words  of  the  Savior  addressed  to  His  dis- 
ciples, as  a  legacy  of  priceless  worth. 

But  why  revert  to  these  scenes  of  twenty  centuries 
ago?  Why  shall  we  be  concerned  with  discourses  and 
problems  which  on  the  face  of  them  point  backward, 
ever  so  far,  and  then  point  forward  into  a  future  we 
know  not  how  distant?  It  is  because  we  have  brought 
ourselves  to  reason  thus  that  the  beautiful  narratives  of 
Holy  Writ  are  ignored  and  neglected  by  many,  accepted 
as  pure  literature  by  some,  as  history  by  others,  and  as 
an  abstract  philosophy  of  life  by  those  who  realize  the 
need  for  such  a  philosophy  but  are  unwilling  to  proceed 
further  in  their  thought  processes. 

259 


26b  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

The  cardinal  truth  of  the  resurrection  story  and  its 
resultant  lessons  does  not  lie  in  any  local  setting,  but  in 
an  applicability  as  a  dynamic  which  is  to  be  felt  in  your 
life  and  in  mine.  "As  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the 
dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so  we  should  walk 
in  newness  of  life."  (Rom.  6:  4.)  If  the  subject  matter 
of  the  narrative  recorded  in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  John 
had  been  limited  to  the  circle  of  the  disciples  and  the  even- 
ing preceding  the  day  of  the  crucifixion,  we  might  well 
study  it  as  an  interesting  bit  of  archaeology,  from  the 
standpoint  of  either  literature  or  history ;  but  its  inclusion 
among  the  lessons  to  be  read  and  studied  and  interpre- 
ted on  the  Sundays  after  Easter,  year  after  year,  twenty 
centuries  after  the  occurrence  of  the  narrative,  is  recog- 
nition of  the  vital  importance  of  the  message  for  you 
and  for  me  as  well  as  for  the  disciples.  Fully  conscious 
of  impending  death,  the  Savior  has  drawn  apart  with 
His  disciples  in  order  to  commune  with  them.  His  heart 
is  heavy  as  He  tells  them  that  they  shall  soon  behold 
Him  no  more  but  soon  thereafter  they  shall  again  see 
Him.  The  disciples  realize  the  anguish  of  their  Master, 
but  do  not  comprehend  its  reason.  They  consult  among 
themselves:  "What  is  this  that  He  saith,  a  little  while? 
We  know  not  what  He  saith,"  Jesus,  reading  their 
perplexity,  adds  thereto  momentarily  by  the  enunciation 
of  a  great  truth  which  they  are  to  master  slowly.  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you  that  ye  shall  weep  and  lament, 
but  the  world  shall  rejoice:  ye  shall  be  sorrowful,  but 
your  sorrow  shall  be  turned  into  joy."  He  illustrates 
in  a  very  realistic  manner  how  this  sorrow  is  to  be  con- 
verted into  joy.  Now  they  are  constrained  to  debate 
among  themselves  and  to  ask  Him  concerning  mysteries 
hidden  from  ages  and  generations,  A  little  later  He 
tells  them  these  questions  will  no  longer  arise  to  harass 
them.     The  iteration  and  reiteration  of  the  words  "a 


THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  261 

little  while"  perplexes  the  disciples.    It  perplexes  the  dis- 
ciples no  more  than  us. 

Let  me  repeat  the  words,  "a  little  while."  Let  me  ask 
you  to  think  of  them  seriously  and  then  let  me  ask  you 
to  lend  expression  to  your  thought.  Let  me  indicate 
certain  of  the  avenues  of  approach.  There  is  a  certain 
rich  man  whose  judgment  we  shall  obtain  first.  He  tells 
us  plainly  that  he  has  no  use  for  this  term  in  his  vocab- 
ulary. He  has  reaped  enormously.  He  will  build 
greater  barns  and  cofifers.  He  says  to  his  soul:  "Soul, 
thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years ;  take  thine 
ease,  eat,  drink  and  be  merry."  He  denies  the  existence 
of  any  such  term,  "a  little  while."  God  forces  its  recog- 
nition upon  him.  "This  night"  is  God's  answer  to  the 
self-inflated  prater. 

We  shall  next  ask  the  ungodly  to  define  the  term. 
With  an  abandon  that  is  frightful  he  acknowledges  the 
validity  of  the  words  as  he  urges  you  to  "eat,  drink  and 
be  merry  for  tomorrow  we  die."  We  turn  for  a  moment 
to  the  rich  young  man  who,  of  his  own  volition,  has 
come  to  Jesus  in  order  that  he  might  obtain  the  gift  of 
eternal  life.  On  discovering  that  a  real  gift  on  the  part 
of  Jesus  implies  also  a  real  gift  on  his  own  part,  he 
turns  from  Jesus  in  order  to  enjoy  his  earthly  posses- 
sions "a  little  while."  We  turn  to  still  another  who  is 
anxious  to  be  counted  among  those  of  more  serious 
thought,  but  he  too,  with  the  rich  man,  though  from  a 
different  motive,  denies  the  existence  of  the  term.  "Let 
me  go  first  and  bury  my  father,"  he  says,  "and  then  I 
will  come  and  follow  thee." 

There  are  many  others  standing  near  who  might  be 
questioned.  Peter  has  come  to  a  recognition  of  the  little 
while  as  he  seeks  to  atone  for  his  shameful  denial. 
Thomas,  looking  upon  his  Lord  and  God,  is  forcibly 
reminded  of  the  little  while  of  doubt  and  uncertainty. 
The  intense  application  of  Christ,  as  He  interests  Him- 


26'2  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

self  personally  in  the  least  and  the  greatest  of  men,  the 
poor  and  the  rich,  the  high  and  the  low,  makes  us  realize 
the  constant  emphasis  which  He  places  in  both  word  and 
deed  upon  "the  little  while."  We  have  called  the  roll 
of  others.  Let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  self.  Let  me 
ask  you,  To  what  use  are  you  putting  the  little  while 
entrusted  to  your  keeping  here  ? 

"A  little  while  and  ye  shall  not  see  me  and  again  a 
little  while  and  ye  shall  see  me."  How  tender  the  love  of 
the  Father  and  the  compassion  of  the  Son !  How  forbear- 
ing! The  little  while  of  sight  is  to  precede  the  little 
while  of  anticipation.  The  faith  demanded  of  the  dis- 
ciples is  not  greater  than  the  opportunity  offered  them  or 
in  contradiction  thereto.  Sight  precedes  as  long  as  such 
an  order  is  deemed  necessary,  but  faith  precedes  sight 
when  the  call,  the  invitation,  the  gentle  voice  of  Jesus 
has  reached  the  ear  of  humanity. 

Yesterday  I  stood  by  the  deathbed  of  a  young  woman 
in  one  of  our  hospitals,  who  looked  at  me  in  a  most 
searching  manner  as  she  said,  'T  know  that  I  shall  not 
get  well.  Pray  for  me,  won't  you  please  pray  for  me?" 
Now,  this  woman  did  not  say,  she  could  not  say  that  she 
had  had  no  opportunity  to  learn  to  know  Jesus.  Yet,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  she  did  not  learn  to  know  Him  sooner 
because  she  would  not.  With  churches  round  about  her, 
with  Christian  people  ready  and  anxious  to  help  her,  with 
Christian  institutions  beckoning  and  pleading  and  urging 
and  sustaining,  with  announcements  and  reports  and 
occasional  editorials  in  the  daily  press,  how  could  she, 
how  can  you  blame  any  one  except  self? 

My  dear  friend,  to  what  use  are  you  putting  the  little 
while  entrusted  to  your  keeping?  It  rriay  be  that  your 
interests  are  centered  in  the  building  up  of  a  large  com- 
mercial enterprise.  Barn  must  be  added  to  barn,  store- 
house to  store-house,  field  to  field,  new  machinery  must 
supplant  the  old,  an  ever  larger  force  of  human  beings 


THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  26'3 

must  be  employed.  You  are  intensely  interested  in  every 
fluctuation  in  the  world  of  barter  and  of  trade.  You 
know  full  well  that  the  vessels  which  are  bearing  your 
merchandise,  the  trains  which  convey  your  cargoes,  the 
individuals  who  are  planning  their  distribution,  are  one 
and  all  resistlessly  engaged  in  their  great  work  day  after 
day..  The  machinery  once  started,  it  is  exceedingly  dif- 
ficult to  have  it  stopped  and  thus  we  come  to  a  tardy 
recognition  that  the  world  of  commerce  and  of  trade  does 
not  stop  to  ask  whether  a  man  belongs  to  the  ranks  of 
labor  or  of  capital,  whether  he  be  at  the  top  or  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ladder,  he  is  driven  on  by  the  force  of  the 
wheels  of  industry.  He  labors  or  plans  seven  days  a 
week  until  at  last  the  widow  of  the  man  of  wealth  clasps 
hands  with  the  widow  of  the  man  of  toil,  as  both  lament 
the  unsatisfactoriness  of  the  life  that  has  passed,  its 
association  with  hard  labor,  its  relentless  grind.  Are 
you  ready  for  eternity  if  there  has  been  nothing  more 
than  this? 

In  asking,  to  what  use  are  you  putting  the  little  while 
entrusted  to  your  keeping,  we  turn  from  the  fathers  to 
the  sons  and  daughters.  Suppose  the  fathers  have  been 
successful  in  the  achievement  of  life's  purpose  as  they 
have  defined  it.  Suppose  they  have  been  enabled  to 
build  ever  greater  barns.  Suppose  they  have  left  this 
heritage  to  you  not  for  ever  but  for  a  little  while,  meas- 
ured either  by  the  span  of  life  or  the  span  of  indiscre- 
tion. Have  you  thought  of  the  problem  which  con- 
fronts you  ?  Have  you  fully  measured  the  trust  imposed 
upon  you?  What  is  your  viewpoint?  What  is  your 
intention?  Suppose  you  need  not  care  for  the  mbrrow, 
will  you  spend  your  life  in  pure  pleasure,  in  selfish  pleas- 
ure, in  the  gratification  of  the  senses?  Will  you  say  to 
your  soul,  "Soul,  thou  hast  many  things  laid  up  for  many 
days,  take  thine  ease,  eat  and  drink"?  There  are  indi- 
viduals who  reason  thus  and  act  accordingly.     The  little 


26*4  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

while  is  soon  spent.  The  verdict  is  rendered.  The  judg- 
ment of  the  world  and  of  God  are  not  very  different. 

The  catalogue  might  be  continued  indefinitely.  There 
is  a  dominant  note  in  your  life,  an  impulse,  an  ambition, 
a  virtue,  a  vice,  a  holy  purpose,  some  one  dominant  note 
which  distinguishes  you  from  others  and  characterizes 
you  in  the  eyes  of  others.  It  is  important  that  you  should 
endeavor  to  learn  what  that  passion  is.  Ask  those  who 
know  you  best.  Question  your  own  conscience.  Ask 
God. 

Jesus  spent  a  little  while  with  the  disciples,  not  that 
He  might  learn  from  them,  not  that  they  might  show 
Him  the  allurements  of  the  world,  not  that  they  might 
influence  Him,  but  simply  and  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
teaching  them,  influencing  them,  leading  them  in  paths  of 
righteousness,  and  during  the  period  of  His  bodily  with- 
drawal for  "a  little  while"  an  opportunity  was  afforded 
them  of  getting  their  bearings,  of  meditating  upon  His 
teachings,  of  coming  to  a  realization  of  the  folly  of  en- 
deavoring henceforth  to  live  without  Him. 

There  is  one  thing  we  ought  not,  we  dare  not  forget. 
The  words,  "a  little  while,"  refer  to  temporal  conditions. 
They  are  to  be  applied  to  the  bodily  presence  of  Jesus 
only,  not  to  His  spiritual  presence.  He  would  teach  the 
disciples  that  the  bodily  presence  is  merely  a  prelude, 
a  prologue,  an  introduction,  a  preface  to  His  abiding 
spiritual  presence.  As  they  employ  their  moments  in 
intercourse  with  Him,  as  they  live  by  the  bread  which 
He  supplies  and  the  water  with  which  He  quenches  their 
thirst,  they  shall  never  again  either  hunger  or  thirst. 
They  shall  never  again  be  without  Him  who  has  said, 
"Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."  How  sharply  the  line  of  cleavage  is  defined. 
"A  little  while"  on  one  hand,  "alway"  on  the  other,  but 
"alway"  only  as  the  resultant  of  the  little  while.  Do 
not  ask,  why  did  Jesus  not  continue  to  dwell  in  human 


THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  26*5 

form?  Do  not  ask  why  is  the  little  while  extended  in 
the  case  of  John  and  abridged  in  the  instance  of  James? 
Do  not  ask  why  are  the  opportunities  of  one  greater 
than  the  opportunities  which  are  accorded  another.  In 
so  doing  you  are  wasting  the  little  while  in  useless  ques- 
tioning. Know,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Jesus  has  warned 
you  lovingly.  His  ambassadors  have  repeated  His  mes- 
sage, the  Church  has  re-echoed  the  gospel  tidings  of 
peace,  and  many  consecrated  Christians  have  endeavored 
by  their  precepts  and  example  to  impress  upon  you  the 
seriousness  of  it  all.  A  little  while  of  intercourse  with 
Him ;  how  rich  these  moments  fraught  with  blessing.  A 
little  while  of  Christian  intercourse  with  those  round 
about  you. 

Will  you  permit  me  to  lend  a  personal  touch  to  this 
subject,  which  is  to  impress  upon  you  the  reality,  the 
nearness,  the  seriousness  of  it  all?  In  a  former  parish 
of  mine  there  was  a  youth  whom  it  was  my  privilege  to 
instruct  in  the  essentials  of  Christian  faith  and  life.  He 
confessed  allegiance  to  his  Lord  and  Master  and  became 
a  communicant  member  of  our  congregation.  With  a 
heart  full  of  gratitude  toward  God,  I  noted  the  earnest- 
ness and  spirituality  of  the  young  man  and  realized  a 
constant  advancement  in  his  spiritual  thought  and  life. 
With  great  interest  I  followed  him  through  school.  He 
easily  led  his  class  in  a  school  which  stands  in  the  front 
rank  of  our  preparatory  schools.  He  not  only  led  his 
class,  but  attained  the  highest  average  ever  awarded  a 
graduate  of  the  school.  His  proficiency  was  not  one- 
sided. He  was  interested  in  athletics  and  became  a 
strong  runner.  On  graduation,  his  brilliant  talents  were 
recognized  and  rewarded.  A  scholarship  was  provided 
for  him  at  Yale  University.  He  entered  upon  his  studies 
there  with  the  same  marked  devotion  and  acumen  which 
have  already  been  noted.     His  teachers  say  the  leader- 


266  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

ship  in  his  class  lay  between  him  and  one  other  man 
in  a  class  of  700. 

He  had  begun  nobly.  His  race  had  but  started.  He 
was  permitted  to  run  but  a  little  while.  His  parents  were 
suddenly  summoned  to  his  bedside  in  the  somewhat  dis- 
tant University  town.  The  young  man  realized  he  could 
not  recover.  There  was  no  eleventh-hour  conversion. 
There  was  no  religious  hysteria.  Quietly  and  calmly  he 
informed  his  parents  of  his  condition.  He  asked  his 
father  to  pray  for  him,  and  then  he  prayed;  and  what 
a  prayer  it  was!  First,  he  commended  his  parents  into 
the  keeping  of  God,  then  he  prayed  that  they  might  meet 
in  heaven,  and  finally  he  committed  his  soul  into  the 
guardianship  of  his  Heavenly  Father.  Having  thanked 
the  physicians  and  nurses  for  their  heroic  efforts  in  his 
behalf,  he  turned  feebly  to  his  mother  and  said,  "Good- 
bye, God  be  with  you."  A  brilliant  future  before  him, 
parents  able  to  provide  for  him,  he  a  young  man  whose 
pre-eminence  in  studies  did  not  produce  the  slightest 
affectation,  was  summoned  home.  His  period  of  pil- 
grimage was  for  but  a  little  while.  His  associations  with 
young  men  were  but  for  a  little  while.  He  had  time  and 
opportunity  in  his  short  and  busy  life  for  but  a  few  words 
and  conversations,  yet  who  among  us  will  say  the  little 
while  was  not  worth  while?  In  his  active  identification 
with  the  work  of  the  Christian  Association  of  one  of  the 
great  universities  of  the  land,  he  proved  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  possess  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,  but 
that  manhood  of  the  Christian  type  and  pattern  demands 
a  sound  soul,  a  sound  mind  and  a  sound  body;  or,  if 
you  still  cling  to  the  more  familiar  designation,  "a. 
sound  mind  in  a  sound  body,"  remember  that  no  mind 
is  sound  which  does  not  employ  the  immediate  present 
in  constructive  endeavor,  in  building  for  life  and  eternity. 
As  it  does  this,  as  it  exercises  itself  in  the  work  which 
God  has  given  it  to  do,  it  converts  the  little  while  into  an 


THIRD  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  267 

unending,  blessed  eternity  for  self  and  others.  This, 
after  all,  is  the  purpose  of  the  little  while  which  Jesus 
would  spend  with  you  and  me  as  His  disciples  even  now. 
It  is  "in  order  that  I  might  be  His,  live  under  Him  in 
His  Kingdom,  and  serve  Him  in  everlasting  righteous- 
ness, innocence  and  blessedness ;  even  as  He  is  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  lives  and  reigns  to  all  eternity." 
Some  things  may  appear  as  dark  and  as  enigmatic  to 
you  as  they  appeared  to  the  disciples.  Do  as  they  did, 
even  while  they  question  among  themselves  they  follow 
Him.  Unconsciously,  as  it  were,  they  realize  the  pre- 
ciousness  of  the  little  while.  Consciously  they  realize 
the  validity  of  the  "alway"  of  which  "a  little  while" 
was  but  the  most  infinitesimal  fraction. 


XXXIII. 
FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER. 

John  i6:  8. 

"He,  when  he  is  come,  will  convict  the  world  in  respect  of  sin, 
and  of  righteousness  and  of  judgment." 

The  last  discourse  of  Jesus  with  His  disciples,  deliv- 
ered at  least  in  part  in  the  room  in  which  the  Master 
and  they  have  just  partaken  of  their  last  supper  before 
His  death,  is  intensely  interesting  because  of  the  earn- 
estness of  Jesus  and  the  earnestness  of  His  disciples.  It 
is  interesting  because  of  the  many  interruptions  on  the 
part  of  the  disciples  and  because  of  the  manner  in  which 
Jesus  invariably  leads  them  back  again  to  the  funda- 
mental truth  He  would  impart  at  this  crucial  point.  You 
of  course  remember  John's  version  of  the  circumstances 
of  that  evening.  "During  supper  the  devil  having  al- 
ready put  into  the  heart  of  Judas  Iscariot,  Simon's  son 
to  betray  him,  Jesus,  knowing  that  the  Father  had  given 
all  things  into  his  hands,  and  that  he  came  forth  from 
God,  and  goeth  unto  God,  riseth  from  supper"  to  wash 
the  feet  of  His  disciples,  thereby  to  teach  them  a  lesson 
in  humility  and  service.  Then  as  He  was  constrained 
to  point  out  the  betrayer  we  are  told  that  He  was  troubled 
in  spirit. 

Judas  having  received  the  sop  left  the  room  straightway 
"and  it  was  night."  At  this  point  the  last  discourse 
begins.  The  traitor  has  left  the  band.  The  final  strug- 
gle has  begun.  Jesus  looks  upon  it  as  one  who  beholds 
the  redemption  drawing  nigh  as  already  at  hand.  "Now 
is  the  Son  of  man  glorified."     Then  He  employs  the 

268 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER     269 

term  which  is  distinctively  that  of  John  who  borrowed 
it  from  His  Master  and  is  permitted  to  use  it  as  he  ad- 
dresses his  hearers  when  he  has  grown  to  be  an  old 
man  and  none  of  those  present  in  that  room  that  even- 
ing were  any  longer  upon  earth.  "Little  children,  yet 
a  little  while  I  am  with  you."  On  announcing  His  de- 
parture, Simon  Peter  interrupts  Him  as  he  asks: 
"Whither  goest  thou?"  But  Peter  is  living  in  the  pres- 
ent. His  question  does  not  refer  to  the  going  of  Jesus 
to  the  Father.  It  refers  to  the  immediate  next  step  as 
they  have  finished  their  supper  and  are  about  to  go  out 
into  the  night.  In  this  sense  Peter  does  not  know  why 
he  cannot  follow  his  Master.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
disciple  as  he  says  "I  will  lay  down  my  life  for  thee" 
is  not  deep-seated  and  needs  to  be  revealed  in  all  its 
superficiality  by  Jesus  who  says:  "Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  thee,  the  cock  shall  not  crow,  till  thou  hast  denied 
me  thrice."  As  the  last  discourse  could  not  begin  with 
Judas  present  to  distract  the  attention  of  the  disciples 
from  the  consideration  of  vital  subjects,  it  could  not 
begin  until  with  this  sweeping  charge  Simon  Peter  who 
was  bound  to  interrupt  with  well-meant  but  specious  com- 
ments had  been  silenced.  Then  Jesus  begins  to  address 
words  of  comfort  and  assurance  to  the  disciples  as  He 
says:  "Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled."  He  would 
speak  to  them  of  the  way  and  the  goal.  He  has  just 
said:  "And  whither  I  go,  ye  know  the  way."  This 
offers  Thomas,  the  meditative  disciple  who  has  since  the 
asking  of  Peter's  question  been  concerned  about  its 
answer,  an  opportunity  that  was  not  directly  vouchsafed 
before.  Hence  we  have  the  second  interruption  as 
Thomas  saith  unto  Him:  "Lord,  we  know  not  whither 
thou  goest;  how  know  we  the  way?"  The  thought  of 
Thomas  is  imdoubtedly  more  profound  than  that  of 
Peter.  He  has  been  grappling  with  the  question  in  its 
deeper  significance  and  consequently  he  is  to  receive  a 


270  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

deeper  answer  from  his  Master  and  Jesus  says:  "I 
am  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life."  Shortly  after, 
Philip,  who  is  somewhat  bewildered  concerning  the  oft- 
repeated  reference  of  Jesus  to  the  Father  in  His  dis- 
course and  who  is  anxious  to  have  a  clearer  perception 
of  this  Father  says:  "Lord,  show  us  the  Father  and  it 
sufficeth  us."  He  must  be  told  that  the  Father  is  re- 
vealed in  the  Son  and  the  Son  in  the  Father.  The  per- 
sonal revelation  of  Christ  and  the  Father  to  the  individual 
believer  is  hardly  intelligible  to  those  who  have  been 
looking  for  a  Messiah  who  would  in  their  estimation 
reveal  Himself  to  the  world,  hence  the  further  inter- 
ruption of  Judas,  not  Iscariot:  "Lord,  what  is  come  to 
pass  that  thou  wilt  manifest  thyself  to  us,  and  not  unto 
the  world?"  Disposing  of  this  question  by  referring  to 
the  necessarily  prior  place  of  personal  relationship  Jesus 
speaks  of  the  subject  which  is  uppermost  in  His  mind, 
the  sending  of  the  Holy  Spirit  who  is  to  assume  a 
position  of  leadership. 

During  this  post-Easter  season  we  are  permitted  to 
study  the  various  relationships  which  the  Spirit  who  is 
to  conquer  the  world  is  to  assume  toward  the  disciples 
and  the  world.  Today  we  are  to  consider  His  relationship 
to  the  world.  In  His  relationship  to  the  disciples  we  have 
been  permitted  to  look  upon  Him  as  a  Comforter  or  as  the 
other  Comforter  for  Christ  is  Himself  to  be  looked  upon 
as  a  Comforter  who  sends  another.  In  His  relationship  to 
the  world  we  are  to  look  upon  Him  as  an  advocate  who 
pleads  the  cause  of  God  against  an  ungodly  generation 
or  as  a  court  of  last  appeal.  There  is  to  be  no  reversal 
from  His  judgment,  no  forgiveness  if  we  turn  from 
Him  and  decide  not  to  submit  to  His  gracious  but  no 
less  positive  sway.  The  sphere  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
the  relationship  which  He  sustains  to  the  world  is  that 
of  one  called  upon  to  convict.  He  shall  make  it  perfectly 
clear  to  the  world  that  it  has  been  guilty  of  three  gross 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER     271 

transgressions  of  the  commandments  of  God.  The  first 
of  these  transgressions  has  reference  to  a  misinterpre- 
tation on  the  part  of  the  world  of  the  term  sin  and  a 
consequent  disregard  for  sin. 

Sin,  in  the  eyes  of  Israel,  had  lost  its  personal  sig- 
nificance.    The  outcry  of  the  Psalmist  ''Against  thee, 
thee  only  have  I  sinned"  was  no  longer  heard  as  the 
intense  personal  plea  of  a  child  of  God  for  the  re-estab- 
lishment of  a  severed  relationship.     The  whole  scheme 
of  sacrifices  constantly  being  elaborated  by  men  who 
obscured  the  idea  of  sin  and  righteousness  with  their 
systems  of  penance  and  of  fasts,  separated  between  the 
children  of  men  and  their  God.    To  an  age  such  as  that 
of  Jesus  was,  this  statement  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  first 
duty  in  His  contact  with  the  world  was  revolutionary 
in  the  extreme.    Jesus  says  the  Holy  Spirit  will  convict 
the  world  because  of  sin  and  lest  the  disciples  misunder- 
stand what  He  is  saying  and  again  interrupt  Him  by 
asserting  this  to  be  a  thing  they  very  well  know,  Jesus 
proceeds  to  tell  them  what  He  means  by  sin.     His  ex- 
planation is  nothing  less  than  a  re-definition  of  the  term. 
They  looked  upon  sin  as  the  transgression  of  God's  law. 
Moses  had  taught  them,  and  it  was  God  who  taught 
Moses,  that  certain  things  well  definable   were   to  be 
shunned  and  excluded  from  their  lives.     But  Israel  had 
completely  forgotten  that  long  before  Moses  lived  and 
long  before  they  received  ten  commandments  written 
on  tables  of  stone  God  imputed  righteousness  on  the 
one  hand  and  sinfulness  on  the  other  and  the  basis  of 
the  imputation  of  the  one  or  the  other  was   faith  or 
unbelief,  faith  in  the  instances  of  Abraham  and  Noah, 
unbelief  in  their  contemporaries.     Thus  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  to  recover  for  them  God's  primal  laws  and  ordin- 
ances and  is  to  teach  the  world  of  Jesus'  age  and  of 
our  own  that  sin  is  lack  of  faith  in  Christ.     May  we  not 
try  to  grapple  with  this  truth?    We  say  "thou  shalt  not 


272  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

kill."  "Why  not,  under  certain  conditions,"  is  a  ques- 
tion sometimes  asked.  Are  there  not  certain  persons 
without  whom  this  world  could  very  well  get  along? 
There  are  outlaws  who  live  in  their  mountain  fastnesses 
spending  their  lives  in  no  other  pursuit  than  in  that  of 
preying  upon  their  fellow-men.  There  are  men  and 
women  in  our  cities,  known  to  our  physicians,  in  whom 
destructive  fires  have  been  kindled  which  cannot  be  ex- 
tinguished until  death  shall  claim  its  victims  in  a  most 
agonizing,  gruesome,  horrid  manner.  And  we  might 
multiply  these  illustrations  to  try  to  prove  as  some  do, 
that  a  transgression  of  the  commandment  "thou  shalt 
not  kill"  is  justifiable  from  the  standpoint  of  the  survival 
of  the  fittest.  In  so  doing  we  should  be  dealing  with  a 
world  in  which  there  is  no  God.  If  I  believe  there  is  a 
God  who  rules  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  if  I  believe  this 
God  is  infinite  in  power  and  justice  and  love,  if  I  be- 
lieve this  God  to  be  interested  in  the  affairs  of  men,  if  I 
believe  that  earth  is  merely  a  training  school  for  eternity, 
if  I  believe  that  God  is  the  creator  of  man  and  has  given 
to  all  men  life  and  its  enjoyment  as  a  sacred  trust,  if  I 
believe  that  God  is  working  out  a  great  plan  which  I 
cannot  now  understand,  if  I  believe  that  when  this  plan  is 
evolved  all  will  be  made  clear  and  then  even  those  things 
which  seem  to  be  so  inscrutable  shall  be  interpreted 
clearly,  if  I  believe  all  these  things  and  many  more  which 
pertain  to  the  world  in  which  God  moves,  then  of  course 
I  shall  at  once  see  that  obedience  rendered  any  one  of  the 
commandments  is  but  a  necessary  resultant  of  my  faith. 
In  other  words  to  the  man  who  believes  in  God  and 
Jesus  Christ  there  will  be  no  question  concerning  the 
fulfilment  of  the  commandments.  He  simply  cannot  kill. 
He  simply  cannot  steal.  He  simply  cannot  commit 
adultery.  These  things  are  made  impossible  by  his  faith. 
Now  Jesus  had  amply  demonstrated  to  those  who  cared 
to  see  and  know  that  He  and  the  Father  were  one.    The 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER     273 

disciples  though  they  had  not  seen  the  Father  as  they 
had  thought  He  might  be  seen  by  His  children  had  seen 
Him  in  exactly  the  way  the  Father  had  chosen  to  mani- 
fest Himself — namely,  in  the  Son.  And  this  was  true 
not  only  of  the  disciples  but  of  the  multitudes  to  whom 
Christ  preached,  whom  He  taught,  whose  sick  He  re- 
stored and  whose  dead  He  raised  to  life.  It  was  to  be 
a  function  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  bring  to  the  conscious- 
ness of  many  of  those  who  joined  in  the  cry  of  "crucify, 
crucify"  a  remembrance  in  after  life  of  their  unbelief. 
It  is  equally  true  today  that  sin  can  be  traced  to  our 
willingness  to  try  to  get  along  without  a  Savior.  Sin 
is  not  an  act  in  its  inmost  nature  nor  a  series  of  acts, 
but  sin  is  a  state,  a  state  of  unbelief,  in  which  state  we 
naturally  act  as  those  do  who  think  they  can  get  along 
without  Christ.  It  is  the  Holy  Spirit's  duty  to  convict 
the  world  on  this  score  and  to  show  the  world  that  it  is 
wrong. 

In  another  respect  is  the  Holy  Spirit  asked  to  exercise 
His  authority.  He  is  to  convict  the  world  with  refer- 
ence to  righteousness.  You  will  remember  the  intensity 
of  the  struggle  between  the  powers  of  darkness  and  the 
power  of  light  in  the  passion  and  death  of  Christ.  We 
might  truthfully  say  that  this  struggle  had  been  going 
on  throughout  His  life.  His  relatives  and  friends  think 
He  is  mad.  The  leaders  of  Israel  think  He  is  an  agent 
of  Beelzebub.  The  Romans  think  He  is  an  ignorant 
Galilean  about  whom  entirely  too  much  has  been  said. 
In  the  very  hour  of  His  death  a  challenge  is  issued  that 
He  demonstrate  His  divinity.  And  after  His  death 
guards  are  placed  at  the  door  of  the  sepulchre  lest  some 
deceit  be  practiced.  It  was  possible  for  the  friends  of 
Jesus,  the  enemies  of  Jesus  and  the  great  mass  which 
believe  itself  to  be  allied  neither  as  friend  nor  foe  to 
continue  to  harass  Him  to  the  very  hour  of  death.  It 
was  impossible  for  any  to  carry  their  accusations,  their 


274  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

slanders,  their  torments,  their  scoffings  beyond  the  por- 
tals of  the  grave.  He  has  won  the  victory  and  in  win- 
ning the  victory  He  is  transported  from  the  battlefield 
to  the  right  hand  of  God.  The  righteous  man  is  the 
man  who  can  call  out  in  the  midst  of  agony  and  woe 
"though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  praise  Him."  The  right- 
eous man  is  the  man  who  though  he  may  be  at  war  with 
all  the  world  is  at  peace  with  God.  The  righteous  man 
is  he  who  does  not  crave  or  need  the  applause  of  men 
because  he  is  conscious  of  the  support  of  God.  The  right- 
eousness of  Christ  leads  at  last  to  God's  unwillingness 
to  have  Him  forever  defamed  as  a  citizen  of  a  world 
which  disowns  Him.  The  righteousness  of  Christ  makes 
possible  and  necessary  His  return  to  the  Father.  Right- 
eousness and  humiliation  are  associated  in  this  world. 
Righteousness  and  exaltation  are  just  as  truly  associated 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  Lord's  words  are  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  those  who  wonder  why  He  was  not  per- 
mitted to  remain  forever  upon  earth.  They  are  of  tre- 
mendous value  and  force  to  those  who  are  battling 
against  undue  odds,  and  feel  they  are  accomplishing 
very  little  in  their  desire  to  serve  their  fellow-men. 

A  third  sphere  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  pointed  out  by 
Christ  in  His  duty  as  an  advocate.  He  is  to  convict  the 
world  of  judgment.  And  Christ  interprets  His  meaning 
by  saying:  "Of  judgment,  because  the  prince  of  this 
world  has  been  judged."  Men  supposed  to  be  religious, 
methods  supposed  to  be  proper,  invectives  thought  to  be 
holy,  a  penalty  thought  to  be  righteous,  all  these  were 
employed  in  the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  From  that 
moment  the  line  of  cleavage  between  men  thought  to  be 
holy  and  men  really  holy,  between  methods  supposed  to 
be  proper  and  methods  actually  proper,  between  judg- 
ments upon  innocent  persons  and  upon  criminals,  has 
been  clearly  drawn.  Men  may  still  continue  to  persecute 
the  righteous  but  they  no  longer  do  it  with  approval  and 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER     275 

commendation  on  every  hand,  men  may  resort  to  all 
sorts  of  unfair  measures  whereby  to  accomplish  unholy 
ends,  but  they  must  declare  their  allegiance.  The  Prince 
of  this  world  is  judged.  What  a  hidden  store  of  mean- 
ing there  is  in  this  statement.  Satan  and  his  methods 
are  no  longer  to  be  held  in  respect  by  the  children  of 
men.  He  is  to  be  branded  as  a  deceiver  and  destroyer 
of  men.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  to  allow  men  no  rest  until 
they  have  declared  their  allegiance  either  to  Satan  or  to 
God.  They  can  no  longer  declare  their  allegiance  to 
both.  In  the  accomplishment  of  this  end  He  is  but  ful- 
filling the  work  begun  by  Christ  for  "He  shall  glorify 
me ;  for  he  shall  take  of  mine,  and  shall  declare  it  unto 
you." 

Shall  the  Spirit  of  truth  come  to  us  as  He  comes  to 
the  world  or  shall  He  come  to  us  as  He  is  to  come  to  the 
disciples,  shall  He  come  to  us  as  an  advocate,  a  prosecutor, 
or  shall  He  come  to  us  as  a  Comforter? 


XXXIV. 
FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER. 

John  16:26. 
"In  that  day  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name." 

Today  as  we  look  forward  to  the  Ascension  of  the 
Son  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  we  are  to  consider 
the  very  last  discourse  with  His  disciples,  the  address 
which  is  really  a  final  recapitulation  of  essential  doc- 
trine.    It  is  the  practical  "it  is  finished"  when  referred 
to  the  pedagogy  of  Jesus.     The  verse  selected  for  our 
consideration  is  the  summary  of  the  summary,  the  golden 
key  which  is  to  unlock  the  portals  of  heaven  and  permit 
us  to  see  the  Lord  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  majesty  and 
power.     The  disciples  and  we  with  them  are  to  carry 
about  with  us  this  key  to  the  Kingdom  "in  that  day  ye 
shall  ask  in  my  name."     To  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  text  we  must  try  first  of  all  to  visualize  the  day  of 
Jesus;  we  must  next  try  to  understand  the  potency  of 
the  name  of  Jesus ;  and  we  shall  then  of  course  seek  to 
find  the  link  which  is  forever  to  weld  for  us  the  day  of 
Jesus  and  the  name  of  Jesus. 

What  does  Jesus  mean  in  speaking  of  "that  day?" 
He  means  primarily  that  His  work  has  not  yet  been 
accomplished  and  that  His  day  has  not  dawned.  In 
another  verse  in  this  same  chapter  He  says:  'T  came 
forth  from  the  Father  and  am  come  into  the  world." 
Theologians  have  termed  this  the  Kenosis  of  the  Lord, 
meaning  thereby  that  to  one  who  had  fully  enjoyed 
the  prerogatives  of  divinity  it  was  a  distinct  humiliation 
to  be  born  (even)  of  a  virgin  in  a  manger  in  a  stable 

276 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  277 

in  an  inn  in  a  little  town  of  Judaea.  It  was  a  distinct 
humiliation  for  Him  Who  controlled  all  things  to  sac- 
rifice all,  not  to  know  the  blessings  of  a  continued  home 
life,  to  become  a  wanderer  and  a  fugitive,  to  be  hated 
and  despised  of  men,  to  be  spitefully  entreated,  to  be 
mocked,  to  be  scourged,  to  be  betrayed  and  crucified.  It 
was  a  great  humiliation  to  be  compelled  to  receive  favors 
in  the  manner  in  which  they  were  granted  Him,  to  be 
misunderstood,  and  misinterpreted.  Surely,  if  you  know 
the  history  of  the  Christ,  you  will  need  no  definition  of 
humility  and  you  will  not  need  to  be  told  that  the  day 
of  Jesus  did  not  dawn  while  He  was  still  upon  earth. 
The  fact  that  Jesus  was  appreciated  by  the  multitudes 
did  not  mean  that  His  day  had  dawned.  Politics  in  the 
days  of  Jesus  were  not  better  than  they  are  today.  The 
many  did  not  rule.  They  meekly  did  what  they  were 
told  to  do,  else  why  would  they  have  turned  so  suddenly 
from  their  "Hosanna  to  the  Son  of  David"  to  the  fren- 
zied "crucify  Him,  crucify  Him?"  Of  course,  Jesus 
remained  true  to  His  great  life  purpose.  He  had  come 
to  seek  and  to  save.  Effort  upon  effort  was  put  forth 
to  turn  Him  from  His  purpose.  The  inflamed  cry  of 
a  multitude  so  recently  sympathetic,  the  sudden  flight 
of  His  disciples,  the  denial  of  Peter,  the  betrayal  of 
Judas,  the  judgment  which  was  no  judgment  accorded 
Him  by  Pilate,  the  false  testimony  of  false  witnesses, 
the  shame  of  the  cross,  these  and  many  more  things  were 
signs  of  the  times  indicating  the  unpreparedness  of  those 
who  lived  in  the  fulness  of  time  for  the  dawn  of  His 
day. 

But  Jesus'  day  has  dawned.  It  is  not  yet  noon  of  the 
day  of  Jesus,  but  His  day  has  dawned.  What  did  He 
mean  by  the  expression  "in  that  day?"  Some  have  re- 
ferred it  to  His  resurrection.  Others  have  said  it  points 
to  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost.     Still  others  have  interpreted  it  as  referring 


278  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

to  the  second  advent  of  the  Lord.  There  is  truth  in 
all  these  interpretations.  It  was  His  day  when  He  arose 
from  the  dead  and  that  day  has  continued  in  its  sway 
over  the  lives  of  men  and  will  continue.  It  was  His  day 
when  the  Comforter  appeared  Whom  Jesus  sent  forth 
that  He  might  abide  with  His  people.  It  will  be  His 
day  when  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead. 
The  one  point  on  which  all  interpreters  of  the  passage 
agree  is  that  His  day  had  not  dawned  before  His  sacri- 
ficial death.  What  a  great  lesson  is  contained  herein! 
In  how  far  did  the  day  of  Jesus  dawn  when  He  arose 
from  the  dead?  There  is  but  one  dawn  for  each  day. 
This  day's  dawn  cannot  be  resolved  into  two  or  three 
separate  and  distinct  dawns.  Now  whereas  it  is  true 
that  even  this  day  has  not  dawned  at  the  same  moment 
in  New  York  and  in  San  Francisco,  in  Tokio  and  in 
London,  it  is  equally  true  that  this  day  has  dawned  at. a 
given  moment  and  in  a  given  place  and  the  dawn  at  that 
moment  and  in  that  place  has  been  extended  to  such  a 
degree  that  the  day  is  still  dawning  for  some  while  it  is 
high  noon  for  us.  The  day  of  Jesus  has  dawned  in  the 
same  manner  at  a  specified  moment  and  at  a  specified 
place.  His  resurrection  indicates  the  moment  and  His 
empty  tomb  the  place,  or  instead  of  thinking  of  the  empty 
tomb  as  the  place  might  it  not  be  well  to  think  of  the 
hearts  of  those  first  witnesses  to  the  resurrection  as  the 
real  place  in  which  the  day  of  Jesus  dawned?  The  im- 
portant fact  to  be  borne  in  mind  is  that  the  dawn  of  Jesus' 
day  follows  close  upon  His  death  for  our  sins.  No  out- 
ward signs  can  gainsay  the  truth  of  this  statement.  Wars 
and  rumors  of  wars  do  not  change  the  fact.  The 
apostasy  of  many  in  high  and  low  places  but  confirms 
the  dawn  of  His  day.  The  drowsiness  of  the  Christian 
church  and  its  inability  to  meet  the  issues  of  the  day 
worthily  can  in  no  wise  be  said  to  militate  against  the 
truth  of  this  statement.     The  day  of  Jesus  is  not  de- 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  279 

pendent  upon  what  you  or  I  may  think,  but  upon  what 
Christ  has  wrought. 

In  a  sense  this  day  of  Jesus  dawned  or  rather  its 
dawn  was  extended  in  visible  form  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost when  the  Holy  Spirit  was  poured  out  upon  the 
assembled  congregation  in  Jerusalem.  The  horizon  be- 
came more  luminous.  The  world  was  more  clearly  seen. 
Distances  which  seemed  forbidding  a  moment  before  be- 
came contracted.  The  Christian  church  assumed  a  form 
which  it  had  not  yet  acquired  in  the  days  of  the  earthly 
ministrations  of  Jesus.  There  was  no  going  back.  The 
clock  must  be  advanced.     It  cannot  be  retarded. 

The  day  of  Jesus — in  a  sense,  in  its  highest  sense  we 
shall  not  understand  the  full  meaning  of  that  term  until 
we  shall  no  longer  have  occasion  to  repeat  the  words  of 
the  creed  "from  thence  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick 
and  the  dead."  That  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick 
and  the  dead  is  certain.  We  think  perhaps  too  often 
and  too  consistently  of  our  going  to  Him.  We  do  not 
think  seriously  enough  of  Christ's  coming  to  us.  In  the 
burial  of  the  dead  we  think  of  their  going  to  heaven, 
we  do  not  think  of  Christ's  coming  from  heaven  to  judge 
the  quick  and  the  dead.  We  think  of  the  new  heavens. 
We  do  not  think  of  the  new  earth. 

There  are  some  of  course,  who  prefer  their  own  day 
to  the  day  of  Jesus.  Those  who  live  in  open  or  in  secret 
sin  prefer  their  own  day  to  the  day  of  Jesus.  Those 
who  are  either  principals  or  seconds  in  looting  banks, 
causing  poverty  and  panic,  bringing  on  war  and  blood- 
shed, have  their  day  and  then  what?  This  is  also  true, 
is  it  not,  of  those  who  live  entirely  for  self,  having 
gained  enough  to  say  to  their  soul:  "Soul,  thou  hast 
much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years;  take  thine  ease, 
eat,  drink  and  be  merry?"  Can  we  mortals  not  learn 
just  this  much  from  the  experience  of  Christ  that  purely 
human  standards  are  very  fallacious?    A  mkn  may  have 


28o  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

joy  today  and  tomorrow  it  may  be  taken  from  him.  An- 
other may  be  a  disciple  of  Christ  and  grieve  today,  but 
be  filled  with  joy  tomorrow.  The  acceptance  of  the  day 
of  Jesus,  on  the  one  hand,  the  acceptance  of  the  world's 
day  on  the  other,  which  shall  it  be  ?  No,  not  which  shall 
it  be,  which  is  it? 

Jesus  says,  "In  that  day  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name." 
As  there  is  a  day  of  Jesus  specified  in  the  verse  before  us 
there  is  also  the  supplementary  idea  of  the  Name  of 
Jesus.  Is  there  any  significance  to  be  attached  to  a 
name?  If  not,  why  should  God  have  changed  the  names 
of  Abram  and  Sarai  and  Jacob  and  many  others  into 
larger  names,  i.  e.,  names  of  greater  significance  in  the 
economy  of  His  Kingdoni?  Why  should  the  New 
Testament  Saul  have  been  anxious  to  exchange  his  Old 
Testament  name?  Why  should  Jesus  have  said  to  him 
whom  we  now  know  as  Peter:  "Thou  art  Simon  the  son 
of  Jona:  thou  shalt  be  called  Cephas,"  which  is  by  inter- 
pretation a  rock,  if  He  attached  no  importance  to  this 
change  in  name?  Surely,  a  name  must  stand  for  some- 
thing. It  must  not  be  disassociated  from  the  object  or 
the  person  for  which  or  for  whom  it  stands.  Was  there 
not  a  clear  demonstration  of  the  power  attached  to  one 
name  and  the  absolute  lack  of  power  attached  to  another 
in  the  incident  which  took  place  upon  Mt.  Carmel  in  the 
days  of  Ahab?  Time  and  again  the  name  of  Jehovah 
upon  the  banner  of  Israel  means  victory.  Time  and 
again  the  name  of  an  opposing  deity  spells  defeat.  The 
reason  is  simple  enough.  In  one  instance  the  name  stands 
for  something.  In  another  it  stands  for  nothing.  By 
way  of  interjection  we  may  ask  why  is  it  that  at  times 
God  permits  His  people  to  be  defeated  for  surely  Israel 
was  not  always  victorious  over  its  enemies.  The  answer 
is,  because  God  is  a  just  God  and  He  cannot  permit  even 
His  people  to  win  if  their  cause  is  not  a  just  cause.  The 
test  upon  Mt.  Carmel  has  its  New  Testament  counter- 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  ^gi 

part  upon  Mars  Hill.  The  prophet  Elijah  is  supplanted 
by  the  Apostle  Paul.  The  crude  worship  of  the  devotees 
of  Baal  surrenders  to  the  refined  worship  of  the  Athen- 
ians. There  are  a  number  of  altars  in  one  group.  There 
is  but  one  in  the  other.  The  many  altars  are  dedicated 
to  known  gods,  the  one  to  an  unknown  god.  The  Athen- 
ians appear  as  the  priests  of  gods  which  they  think  they 
know  about.  Paul  appears  as  the  ambassador  of  a  God 
known  to  him  but  unknown  to  them.  The  God  Who 
meant  little  or  nothing  to  the  Athenians  because  disasso- 
ciated from  the  Christ  was  everything  to  the  apostle  to 
whom  the  Christ  had  appeared.  To  him  the  altar  was 
not  an  altar  to  an  unknown  God,  but  to  a  God  whose 
name  is  above  every  name  "That  at  the  name  of  Jesus 
every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and  things 
in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth;  and  that  every 
tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord  to  the 
glory  of  God  the  Father."  We  are  permitted  to  know 
this  glorified  Christ  Whom  Paul  knew.  What  does  His 
name  mean  to  you?  Is  it  a  name  and  nothing  more? 
Some  persons  are  prone  to  speak  disparagingly  of  the 
influence  which  is  needed  to  secure  certain  positions.  It 
is  true,  of  course,  that  influence  may  be  perverted  as  it 
is  in  political  life.  It  is  nevertheless  true  that  it  is  well 
for  the  world  at  large  that  references  are  required  and 
that  our  associations  mark  us.  Your  association  with 
or  outside  the  circle  of  Jesus,  your  ability  to  use  Him 
as  a  reference  or  your  inability  to  secure  His  signature 
are  of  greater  importance  in  your  life  than  you  may 
seem  willing  to  admit. 

If  the  day  of  Jesus  is  the  vital  thing  we  believe  it  to 
be,  if  the  name  of  Jesus  is  the  vital  thing  we  know  it  to 
be,  then  surely  we  must  appropriate  and  realize  both  in 
our  lives.  How  can  this  be  achieved?  Through  prayer. 
Before  His  day  dawned  on  the  earth  His  disciples  had 
never  prayed  in  His  Name.     They  had  approximated  a 


282  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

prayer  in  His  Name  when  they  united  in  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  for  it  was  Christ  Who  made  the  Fatherhood  of 
God  real  to  them.  But  they  had  never  deviated  very 
materially  from  Jewish  standards  of  prayer.  They  were 
to  acquire  a  new  power  as  we  shall  be  re-created  through 
prayer  in  Jesus'  Name.  Prayer  in  Jesus'  Name  must 
mean  first  of  all  a  oneness  with  Christ  of  those  who  thus 
pray.  Giving  references  is  a  much  more  serious  piece 
of  business  than  many  people  imagine.  When  a  man 
comes  to  me  with  the  endorsement  of  a  friend  I  ever 
after  associate  him  with  that  friend  and  my  friend  is 
either  strengthened  or  weakened  in  my  opinion  by  the 
manner  in  which  his  testimonial  and  the  conduct  of  him 
who  brings  the  testimonial  coincide.  It  is  a  serious  thing 
for  any  man  to  write  a  testimonial  and  it  is  an  equally 
serious  thing  for  any  one  to  be  the  recipient  and  the 
transmitter  of  a  testimonial.  When  you  appear  before 
the  throne  of  God  with  the  endorsement  which  is  yours 
as  you  use  the  Name  of  Jesus  you  have  accepted,  volun- 
tarily accepted,  a  responsibility  which,  if  you  do  not 
discharge,  you  become  a  traitor.  Hence  prayer  in  Jesus' 
Name  means  first  of  all  an  identification  on  your  part 
with  the  ideals  of  Jesus.  It  means  that  you  are  under 
obligation  to  Him  and  that  you  must  fulfil  the  trust. 
In  the  second  place  prayer  in  the  Name  of  Jesus  means 
unselfish  prayer.  He  Who  is  willing  to  spend  His  energy 
in  endorsing  the  petitions  of  millions  upon  millions  of 
persons  is  certainly  not  engaged  in  a  selfish  pursuit.  The 
prayers  of  Jesus  are  not  selfish  prayers.  Your  prayers 
are  selfish  prayers  and  in  so  far  they  are  not  Christian 
prayers.  Your  prayer  for  health  is  a  selfish  prayer 
when  it  may  be  that  the  purposes  of  God  are  better 
brought  to  pass  through  your  sickness.  Your  prayer  for 
nourishment  is  a  selfish  prayer  if  thereby  you  mean  to 
deprive  the  starving  men  and  women  of  God's  great 
world  of   food.     Your  prayer  for  victory  is  a  selfish 


FIFTH  SUNDAY  AFTER  EASTER  283 

prayer  if  thereby  you  mean  the  complete  annihilation  of 
your  enemies.     Your  prayer  for  personal  achievement 
and  success  is  a  selfish  prayer  if  your  success  means  the 
failure  of  another.     Friends,  in  the  great  majority  of 
instances  our  prayers  are  selfish  prayers  and  hence  are 
not  and  cannot  be  prayers  in  His  Name  Who  came  to 
give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many.     In  the  third  place, 
prayer  in  the  Name  of  Jesus  means  prevailing  prayer.' 
In  the  very  verse  we  have  chosen  we  read:     "In  that 
day  ye  shall  ask  in  my  name:  And  I  say  not  unto  you, 
that  I  will  pray  the  Father  for  you;  for  the  Father  him- 
self loveth  you,  because  ye  have  loved  me,  and  have  be- 
lieved that  I  came  forth  from  the  Father."    Our  prayer 
must  not  be  directed  to  Jesus  in  the  hope  that  He  will 
relay  it  to  the  Father's  throne,   but  our  prayer  must 
ascend  directly  to  the  Father's  throne  because  of  the 
Father's  love  for  us  and  because  of  the  guarantee  which 
the  name  of  Jesus  affords. 

May  I  repeat  very  briefly  for  the  sake  of  impressing 
It  upon  your  minds  that  true  prayer  implies  oneness  with 
Christ.  Until  we  are  at  one  with  Him  Who  hath  brought 
about  our  at-one-ment  we  are  not  prayers  and  cannot 
offer  true  prayers.  In  the  next  place,  prayer  In  the 
Name  of  Jesus  means  unselfish  prayer.  It  means  that  we 
have  caught  a  bit  of  the  world  sorrow  and  the  world's 
burden  and  that  we  are  willing  to  be  burden  bearers. 
Prayers  are  burdens.  And  finally,  prayer  in  the  Name 
of  Jesus  means  prevailing  prayer.  In  no  respect  is  it 
truer  that  you  will  get  just  what  you  deserve  than  in  this 
appearance  before  the  throne  of  grace. 

May  God  Who  knows  how  weak  we  are  in  our  day 
and  generation  in  this  respect  help  us  to  shake  off  our 
slothfulness  and  our  indifference  and  put  on  the  mantle 
of  prayer.  May  we  join  with  Isaiah  in  his  prayer  for 
present  mercy  and  help.  "Oh  that  thou  wouldest  rend 
the  heavens,  that  thou  wouldest  come  down,  that  the 


284  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

mountains  might  quake  at  thy  presence,  as  when  fire 
kindleth  the  brushwood,  and  the  fire  causeth  the  waters 
to  boil;  to  make  thy  name  known  to  thine  adversaries, 
that  the  nations  may  tremble  at  thy  presence!  When 
thou  didst  terrible  things  which  we  looked  not  for,  thou 
earnest  down ;  the  mountains  quaked  at  thy  presence. 
For  from  of  old  men  have  not  heard,  nor  perceived  by  the 
ear,  neither  hath  the  eye  seen  a  God  besides  Thee,  who 
worked  for  him  that  waiteth  for  him.  Thou  meetest  him 
that  rejoiceth  and  worketh  righteousness,  those  that  re- 
member thee  in  thy  ways:  behold,  thou  wast  wroth,  and 
we  sinned :  in  them  have  we  been  of  long  time ;  and  shall 
we  be  saved?  For  we  are  all  become  as  one  that  is  un- 
clean, and  all  our  righteousnesses  are  as  a  polluted  gar- 
ment: and  we  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf;  and  our  iniquities, 
like  the  wind,  take  us  away.  And  there  is  none  that 
calleth  upon  thy  name,  that  stirreth  up  himself  to  take 
hold  of  thee;  for  thou  hast  hid  thy  face  from  us,  and 
hast  consumed  us  by  means  of  our  iniquities. 

"But  now,  O  Jehovah,  thou  art  our  Father;  we  are 
the  clay,  and  thou  our  potter;  and  we  all  are  the  work 
of  thy  hand.  Be  not  wroth  very  sore,  O  Jehovah,  neither 
remember  iniquity  for  ever:  behold,  look,  we  beseech 
thee,  we  are  all  thy  people.  Thy  holy  cities  are  become  a 
wilderness,  Zion  is  become  a  wilderness,  Jerusalem  a 
desolation.  Our  holy  and  our  beautiful  house,  where 
our  fathers  praised  thee,  is  burned  with  fire ;  and  all  our 
pleasant  places  are  laid  waste.  Wilt  thou  refrain  thyself 
for  these  things,  O  Jehovah?  wilt  thou  hold  thy  peace, 
and  afflict  us  very  sore?" 


XXXV. 
ASCENSION  DAY. 

Acts  i  :9-ii. 

"And  when  he  had  said  these  things,  as  they  were  looking,  he 
?was  taken  up;  and  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their  sight.  And 
while  they  were  looking  steadfastly  into  heaven  as  he  went,  behold, 
two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel ;  who  also  said,  Ye  men 
of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  looking  into  heaven?  this  Jesus,  who  was 
received  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye 
beheld  him  going  into  heaven." 

The  high  festival  days  of  the  Christian  year  are  gospel 
days  in  such  an  intensive  sense  that  the  epistle  lessons 
are  often  almost  entirely  forgotten.  Suppose  we  should 
conduct  an  examination  right  here  and  now  to  ascertain 
what  are  the  epistle  lessons  for  Christmas  day  and 
Easter  day,  are  there  not  some  present  who  would  hesi- 
tate a  bit  before  answering  these  questions?  And  there 
is  a  reason  for  this  hesitancy.  We  cannot  rightly  think 
of  Christmas  day  or  Easter  day  or  any  other  of  the 
festival  days  without  centering  our  thought  upon  the 
central  theme  which  is  of  course  the  gospel  for  the  day. 
This  is  peculiarly  true  of  the  day  we  are  celebrating. 
On  Ascension  day  the  epistle  lesson  blends  so  perfectly 
and  absolutely  with  the  gospel  lesson  we  hardly  feel  we 
shall  be  misunderstood  in  saying  that  the  church  has 
proceeded  in  an  unusual  way  and  has  rightly  selected 
two  narratives  of  one  and  the  same  gospel,  assigning  to 
one  the  title  epistle  and  to  the  other  the  title  gospel.  In 
other  words,  Ascension  day  has  no  real  epistle  lesson. 
There  are  many  passages  in  the  epistles  which  might 
have  been  chosen  for  this  day  because  they  adequately 

285 


286  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

convey  its  teaching,  notably  among  them  the  words  of 
Paul  in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  based  upon  the 
Psalmist's  exclamation  "Thou  hast  ascended  on  high, 
thou  hast  led  away  captives;  thou  hast  received  gifts 
among  men,"  or  as  Paul  applies  the  message,  "Where- 
fore he  saith,  when  he  ascended  on  high,  he  led  captivity 
captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men,"  in  which  lesson  Paul 
points  the  real  lesson  of  Ascension  day  "He  that 
descended  is  the  same  also  that  ascended  far  above  all 
the  heavens,  that  he  might  fill  all  things,"  that  he  might 
send  the  Comforter  that  in  turn  men  truly  called  might 
be  apostles  or  prophets  or  evangelists  or  pastors  or  teach- 
ers going  forth  in  the  name  of  Him  Who  is  to  fill  all 
things.  Ascension  day  has  its  message  for  the  laity  as 
well,  but  it  conveys  a  very  specific  message  to  the  dis- 
ciples who  are  to  go  forth  and  preach  the  gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  passages  from  the  epistle  which  might  have  been 
assigned  as  lessons  for  this  day  have  been  barred  simply 
because  of  the  unconditional  necessity  of  including  the 
most  specific  narrative  of  Christ's  ascension  which  is  of 
course  contained  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  The  distinctively  gospel  narrative  may  be 
accurately  defined  because  certain  things  are  essential 
to  it.  There  must  be  the  necessary  setting,  the  necessary 
act  and  the  necessary  message.  The  necessary  setting  for 
the  gospel  of  Christmas  day  is  the  manger  and  the  field. 
The  necessary  setting  for  the  gospel  of  Easter  day  is  the 
empty  tomb.  The  necessary  setting  for  Ascension  day 
is  the  tangible  earth  and  the  tangible  circle  of  disciples. 
The  necessary  act  portrayed  in  the  gospel  for  Christmas 
day  is  the  Incarnation.  The  necessary  act  portrayed 
in  the  Easter  gospel  is  the  Resurrection.  The  necessary 
act  portrayed  in  the  so-called  epistle  lesson  for  this  day 
is  the  Ascension.  The  necessary  message  contained  in 
the  Christmas  gospel  is  the  evangel  of  the  angel:   "There 


ASCENSION  DAY  287 

is  born  to  you  this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a  Savior, 
who  is  Christ  the  Lord."  The  necessary  message  con- 
tained in  the  Easter  gospel  is  likewise  the  angel's  an- 
nouncement: *'He  is  risen."  The  message  of  and  for 
this  day  is  again  an  angelic  message:  "Ye  men  of  Gali- 
lee, why  stand  ye  looking  into  heaven?  this  Jesus,  who 
was  received  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in 
like  manner  as  ye  beheld  him  going  into  heaven." 

The  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  transitional  act 
leading  us  from  the  seen  to  the  unseen,  from  a  world 
that  is  real  to  a  world  equally  real,  from  earth  to  heaven, 
and  from  heaven  back  again  to  earth.  This  two-fold 
relationship  may  be  illustrated  by  referring  to  the  kin- 
ship between  this  festival  and  Good  Friday  on  the  one 
hand  and  between  it  and  Whitsunday  on  the  other  hand. 
Chrysostom  tells  us  that  on  Good  Friday  and  again  on 
Ascension  day  the  early  Christians,  instead  of  assembling 
in  their  respective  places  of  worship  met  for  their  services 
in  the  acres  of  God.  In  this  manner  they  endeavored  to 
visualize  the  unseen  world.  As  the  day  was  early  made 
to  point  back  to  Good  Friday,  Jesus  and  the  angels 
made  it  point  forward  to  Whitsuntide  and  the  coming 
of  the  Comforter.  In  the  former  instance  the  effort  was 
made  to  bring  the  seen  into  touch  with  the  unseen,  in  the 
latter,  the  unseen  was  to  be  brought  into  touch  with  the 
seen. 

This  transitional  act  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  for  Christ.  The  things  which  Jesus  began  both  to 
do  and  to  teach  until  the  very  day  in  which  He  was  re- 
ceived up  marked  a  distinct  era  for  Christ  as  well  as  for 
the  world.  The  Incarnation  marked  the  beginning  of 
that  era  and  the  Ascension  its  close.  As  if  to  refute  the 
thinking  and  teaching  of  those  who  would  have  this  early 
dispensation  close  with  the  death  and  burial  and  resur- 
rection of  Christ  Luke  is  exceedingly  explicit  in  his  lan- 
guage.    The  first  era  was  to  include  the  giving  com- 


288  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

mandment  through  the  Holy  Spirit  unto  the  apostles 
whom  he  had  chosen;  it  included  the  epiphanies  of  the 
risen  Lord,  together  with  the  instructions  they  afforded ; 
it  included  the  re-affirmation  of  the  promise  of  the  Holy 
Spirit;  it  included  the  command  that  they  should  not 
begin  their  activity  prematurely;  it  included  the  warn- 
ing against  purely  human  engagement  in  speculations  of 
no  real  value  and  of  positive  harm ;  it  included  the  going 
forth  together  for  the  last  time  for  the  fulfilment  of  the 
one  act  which  was  to  be  the  culmination  of  Jesus'  earthly 
intercourse  with  His  disciples  and  the  beginning  of  His 
eternal  spiritual  intercourse  with  His  church.  We  have 
said  the  Ascension  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era 
for  Christ,  an  era  which  may  in  turn  be  characterized 
as  a  period  of  doing  and  teaching,  doing  and  teaching  in 
the  application  of  redemption  to  all  mankind.  Have  we 
sufficiently  contemplated  the  importance  of  the  activity 
of  Christ  in  this  new  era?  It  is  He  Himself  who  says 
in  His  last  discourse:  "It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go 
away;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come 
unto  you;  but  if  I  go,  I  will  send  Him  unto  you."  I 
like  to  feel  that  the  first  act  of  Christ  in  resuming  His 
place  in  His  Father's  Kingdom  was  not  the  sending  forth 
of  the  Comforter  but  the  restraining  of  Himself  and  the 
Comforter  until  the  disciples  shall  have  had  an  oppor- 
tunity through  their  mutual  assemblages  for  prayer  and 
meditation  to  be  ready  and  willing  to  say  "Here  am  I 
Lord,  send  me,"  During  these  days  of  earnest  watch- 
fulness they  were  not  without  the  grace  of  God.  They 
possessed  it  as  truly  as  did  Paul  when  after  his  con- 
version he  went  into  seclusion  to  meditate  upon  the 
heavenly  vision  and  his  heavenly  calling.  Jesus  must 
at  times  restrain  Himself  and  the  Spirit  just  as  we  be- 
lieve that  the  Old  Testament  religion  is  a  religion  of 
restraint  as  well  as  of  the  immediate  execution  of  ven- 
geance and  blessing.     If  therefore  His  first  act  be  that 


ASCENSION  DAY  289 

of  restraint,  the  second  is  that  of  the  projection  of  the 
full  power  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  into  the  hearts  of 
believers    and    consequently    into    the    newly    founded 
church.     If  the  church  has  not  always  known  how  to 
utilize  that  power,  the  fault  is  not  that  of  Christ  or  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  but  of  those  who  have  failed  implicitly 
to  trust  the  promises  of  Christ.    The  great  deed  manifest 
in  sending  forth  the  Holy  Spirit  on  Whitsunday  is  for 
the  distinct  purpose  mentioned  in  the  passage  from  Ephe- 
sians  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  "in  order 
that  he  might  fill  all  things,"  and  this  filling  of  all  things 
by  Christ  is  for  no  selfish  reason,  but  in  order  that  we 
may  all  attain  "unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ."     And  thus  Christ  has  entered  upon 
an  era  which  beginning  with  the  Ascension  shall  not  be 
brought  to  its  culmination  until  He  shall  come  again  to 
judge  both  the  quick  and  the  dead.     The  era  is  not  to  be 
one  of  doing  only,  but  of  teaching  as  well.     The  revela- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  to  Saul  includes  not  only  an  act  in 
which  He  manifests  Himself  momentarily  to  a  confus-^d 
persecutor,  but  includes  the  sphere  of  teaching  as  well. 
The  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  beloved  disciple 
upon  the  isle  of  Patmos  and  through  him  to  the  churches 
of  Asia  Minor  and  the  churches  of  all  times  is  evidence 
of  the  fulfilment  of  a  longing  desire  "I  have  yet  many 
things  to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now." 
These  things  were   revealed   at   least   in   part  in   those 
blessed  post-resurrection  days.     They  were  further  re- 
vealed by  the  Spirit  after  He  had  come  upon  them.   They 
were  revealed  to  us  through  the  testimony  of  one  to 
whom  they  were  made  known  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic 
age. 

The  ascension  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  transitional  act 
which  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  those  who 
are   Christ's.     The  first  step  in   this   transition   is  un- 


290  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

doubtedly  the  testing  of  their  faith  in  the  message  of 
the  angels.  It  is  interesting  in  this  particular  to  contrast 
the  message  of  Ascension  day  with  the  messages  of 
Christmas  day  and  Easter.  When  the  angel  upon  Beth- 
lehem's field  said:  "Fear  not,"  etc.,  he  added,  "ye  shall 
find  the  babe  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  and  lying  in 
a  manger."  It  required  faith  on  the  part  of  the  shep- 
herds to  appropriate  this  message,  but  an  easily  and  al- 
most simultaneously  verifiable  faith.  "They  found  both 
Mary  and  Joseph,  and  the  babe  lying  in  the  manger." 
The  angel  who  announced  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  added 
to  his  announcement  the  assurance,  easily  verifiable  "He 
goeth  before  you  into  Galilee:  there  shall  ye  see  Him, 
as  He  said  unto  you."  But  when  the  two  men  in  white 
apparel  address  the  dazed  disciples  looking  into  space, 
there  is  no  comforting  postscript  or  peroration  concern- 
ing the  immediate  realization  of  their  desire  to  be  re- 
united. "This  Jesus,  who  was  received  up  from  you 
into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  beheld 
him  going  into  heaven."  They  are  to  return  to  Jeru- 
salem where  day  after  day  is  to  be  spent  in  watchful 
waiting.  Surely  their  conduct  during  this  period  indi- 
cates the  long  distance  they  have  traveled  since  their 
flight  on  the  night  of  the  betrayal.  The  first  Christian 
prayer  meetings  in  that  upper  chamber  in  Jerusalem  are 
the  assemblages  of  persons  who  have  learned  to  believe 
and  to  pray.  The  first  step  in  the  new  era  for  those 
who  are  Christ's  is  as  we  have  said,  the  testing  of  their 
faith,  the  second  is  the  awaiting  of  the  promise  in  the 
spirit  of  prayer,  the  third  is  the  actual  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  their  baptism  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  as 
Jesus  Himself  has  described  it,  and  the  fourth  step  is  to 
be  their  witness  bearing.  Is  not  this  experience  of  the 
first  century  repeated  every  year  in  an  institution  such 
as  this?     There  are  in  this  congregation  men  who  in  a 


ASCENSION  DAY  291 

few  days  will  be  graduated  from  this  seminary.*  The 
gospel  message  has  come  to  them  as  a  call.  Their  faith 
has  been  tested  in  the  presentation  to  them  of  the  Word 
of  God,  they  have  had  to  wait  and  pray  and  toil  and 
wait.  We  trust  that  their  ordination  will  be  to  them  a 
veritable  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  alone  can 
energize  them  for  effective  service  and  we  know  that  if 
the  Holy  Spirit  leads  them  into  all  truth,  they  cannot  help 
but  lead  others  into  truth.  Those  of  us  who  do  not 
appreciate  the  value  and  significance  of  the  new  era 
heralded  by  this  day  as  it  affects  those  who  are  Christ's, 
are  not  Christ's.  Hence  the  importance  of  the  day, 
hence  the  importance  of  celebrating  it  as  we  are  to  cele- 
brate it  in  receiving  the  Holy  Communion. 

We  cannot  turn  from  our  consideration  of  the  Ascen- 
sion of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  transitional  act  without  noting 
that  it  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  the  world. 
We  have  said  it  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for 
Christ  and  for  those  who  are  His.  It  is  no  less  true 
that  it  marks  a  very  distinct  beginning  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  Though  the  new  covenant  begins  with  the 
Incarnation  the  realization  of  the  meaning  of  the  new 
covenant  even  on  the  part  of  the  disciples  does  not  begin 
with  either  the  Incarnation  or  the  Resurrection,  but  with 
the  Ascension.  Of  course  the  full  realization  of  the 
meaning  of  the  new  covenant  does  not  take  place  until 
after  the  pouring  out  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  Pentecost, 
but  there  is  a  dawning  in  the  minds  of  men  concerning 
the  meaning  of  the  Life  that  has  been  lived  and  Ascen- 
sion day  has  ever  preached  to  the  world  a  message  con- 
cerning the  restraining  touch  of  the  unseen  world.  Men 
have  ever  since  hesitated  to  do  some  of  the  things  they 
might  otherwise  have  done.     As  nations  they  have  con- 


♦Preached   at   the   Lutheran   Theological    Seminary,    Mt.    Airy, 
Philadelphia. 


292  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

tinued  to  live  lives  not  subject  to  restraint  because  as 
nations  they  have  accepted  commercial  standards,  not 
even  commercial  ideals.  As  men  they  have  endeavored 
through  foundations  to  repudiate  what  they  have  done 
as  nations.  After  all,  if  the  power  of  the  unseen  world 
cannot,  in  our  day,  grip  both  individuals  and  nations  it 
is  far  more  essential  that  it  should  grip  individuals  than 
nations,  for  salvation  is  not  a  matter  of  nations  sep- 
arately conceived,  but  of  individuals,  of  individual  souls, 
of  individual  souls  in  all  nations. 

As  the  world  that  now  is  has  felt  the  restraining  touch 
of  the  unseen  world  it  has  likewise  felt  its  compelling 
touch.  The  message  of  Ascension  day  has  come  and  will 
come  with  special  force  and  significance  to  those  who 
have  been  compelled  to  stand  by  the  open  grave.  Surely 
Christianity  has  taught  the  world  how  not  only  to  mourn 
but  how  to  convert  our  mourning  into  a  peace  that 
passeth  understanding  and  a  joy  that  no  man  can  take 
away.  In  many  more  ways  do  we  note  the  influence  of 
the  Ascension  upon  the  world,  but  especially  in  its  quest 
for  permanent  values.  The  world  itself  is  beginning  to 
recognize  the  futility  of  much  for  which  the  Greek  and 
Roman  world  stood.  It  is  beginning  to  seek  the  few 
things  rather  than  the  many,  the  one  thing  rather  than 
the  few. 

In  speaking  to  the  disciples  the  angels  desired  to  arouse 
them  from  a  purely  physical  exercise  born  of  curiosity 
and  consternation  and  regret  to  a  spiritual  exercise.  The 
disciples  would  not  have  been  rebuked  had  the  angels 
found  them  engaged  in  prayer  while  in  the  act  of  look- 
ing heavenward.  Nor  did  they  imply  as  some  would 
have  us  believe  that  their  words  "why  stand  ye  looking 
into  heaven"  may  be  made  the  basis  of  a  social  service 
program.  The  spiritual  exercise  in  which  the  disciples 
engaged  after  returning  to  the  city  might  have  been 
engaged  in  upon  the  mount.    It  would  have  immediately 


ASCENSION  DAY  293 

accompanied  and  followed  the  ascension  of  Jesus  if 
they  had  fully  grasped  the  meaning  of  the  deed.  It  is 
because  we  have  at  least  partially  grasped  its  meaning 
that  we  have  assembled  upon  this  mount  for  this  service. 


XXXVI. 
SUNDAY  AFTER  ASCENSION  DAY 

John  15 :  26-27. 

"When  the  Comforter  is  come,  wihom  I  will  send  unto  you  from 
the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth,  which  proceedeth  from  the 
Father,  he  shall  bear  witness  of  m£ :  and  ye  also  bear  witness." 

Why  is  there  such  an  accumulation  of  lessons  from  a 
comparatively  few  chapters  of  John  for  the  Sundays 
after  Easter?  Is  it  because  the  forty  days  following  the 
resurrection  of  our  Lord  constitute  a  transitional  period 
during  which  emphasis  must  be  placed  upon  the  spiritual 
so  little  understood  by  the  disciples  and  their  descend- 
ants? Or  is  it  because  in  the  last  discourses  of  our  Lord 
there  is  contained  such  a  wealth  of  thought  it  has  been 
absolutely  impossible  to  assimilate  it  while  depressed  with 
sorrow  on  the  eve  of  the  crucifixion?  Is  it  not  true  that 
the  fulness  of  detail  in  these  last  discourses  is  simply 
staggering  and  that  we  cannot  gain  a  proper  perspective 
of  the  Life  of  lives  unless  we  trace  the  intimate  connec- 
tion between  the  passion,  the  resurrection,  the  forty  days, 
the  Ascension,  and  Whitsuntide  as  this  relationship  is 
carefully  and  minutely  set  forth  in  the  first  two  lines 
of  the  Easter  hymn:  "The  strife  is  o'er,  the  battle 
done!  The  victory  of  life  is  won!"  to  which  must 
be  added  the  third  line:  "The  song  of  triumph  hath 
begun."  It  is  true  the  battle  is  o'er  as  we  assemble  on 
the  day  of  resurrection.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  song 
of  triumph  hath  only  been  begun.  It  is  essential  to  re- 
member that  unless  we  continue  in  our  discipleship  to  the 
Mount  and  to  the  Holy  City  and  then  return  to  the  duties 
of  life  thus  newly  interpreted  the  song  of  triumph  has 

294 


SUNDAY  AFTER  ASCENSION  DAY  295 

little  meaning  either  for  us  or  those  with  whom  we 
associate. 

Entirely  too  many  Christians  look  upon  the  Ascension 
of  Jesus  as  a  personal  act  in  which  He  only  is  interested 
actively  and  they  passively.  They  consider  it  His  per- 
sonal retirement  from  the  scene  of  conflict  after  having 
won  His  battle.  The  Ascension  is  something  infinitely 
more  than  that.  It  is  an  advancement  of  the  whole  cause 
of  Christ,  not  only  in  heaven  but  also  on  earth.  It  is  a 
necessary  sequence,  a  continuance  of  the  plan  of  salva- 
tion, a  readjustment,  a  newness  of  relationship,  a  bright, 
bright  hope,  a  recognition  of  human  responsibility  in  the 
acknowledgement  of  the  faith  "Thence  He  shall  come 
again  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead."  We  are  far  too 
prone  to  discontinue  the  process  of  thought  ere  we  have 
arrived  at  a  logical  conclusion.  We  are  willing  to  say 
A  but  not  B.  Concentrated  thought  upon  the  life  and 
purpose  of  Christ  will  at  once  convince  us  of  the  real 
significance  of  the  Ascension  in  its  various  and  vital 
phases,  the  first  of  which  is  the  sending  forth  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  "But  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom 
I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of 
truth  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  he  shall  bear 
witness  of  me."  Do  you  see  why  in  the  light  of  this 
assertion  of  Christ  it  is  necessary  to  review  the  last  dis- 
course.? The  life  of  Christ,  the  discourses  of  Christ,  the 
miracles  of  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  not  any  one  of 
these  things  can  be  properly  understood  except  as  the 
Spirit  bearing  witness  illumines  the  message  for  us.  The 
fall  of  man  and  the  restoration  of  man  are  intimately 
interwoven  in  the  significance  of  Ascension  day  and 
Whitsuntide.  Joel  made  to  experience  the  devastation 
of  the  land,  calling  the  people  to  fasting  and  prayer 
obtains  favor  from  Jehovah.  The  immediate  promise  is 
converted  into  a  prophecy  for  humanity  "And  it  shall 
come  to  pass  afterward,  that  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit 


296  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

upon  all  flesh;  and  your  sons  and  your  daughters  shall 
prophesy,  your  old  men  shall  dream  dreams,  your  young 
men  shall  see  visions;  and  also  upon  the  servants  and 
upon  the  handmaids  in  those  days  will  I  pour  out  my 
Spirit.  And  I  will  show  wonders  in  the  heavens  and  in 
the  earth:  blood,  and  fire,  and  pillars  of  smoke.  The 
sun  shall  be  turned  into  darkness,  and  the  moon  into 
blood,  before  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  Jehovah 
Cometh.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  whosoever  shall 
call  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah  shall  be  delivered."  This 
is  the  promise  emphasized  by  Isaiah  in  the  thirty-second 
and  forty-fourth  chapters.  This  is  the  promise  of  the 
Father  to  which  Jesus  alludes  in  our  text.  It  is  the 
promise  spoken  of  by  Peter  in  the  Pentecostal  discourse 
"Having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  He  hath  poured  forth  this,  which  ye  see  and  hear." 
Amid  the  rack  and  ruin  of  society  there  appeared  unto 
the  prophets  a  vision  of  restoration,  heaven  even  here 
upon  earth,  a  new  order  of  affairs,  supplanting  an  econ- 
omy of  law  and  destruction.  There  was  a  hope,  a  very 
well-founded  hope  that  "whosoever  shall  call  upon  the 
Name  of  Jehovah  shall  be  saved."  But  a  power  must 
be  given  unto  men  whereby  they  may  call  upon  this 
Name.  It  was  in  order  to  obtain  this  power,  surely  not 
for  Himself,  that  Christ  came  into  the  world,  suffered 
and  died  and  returned  to  the  realm  from  which  He  had 
come.  And  the  Father  recognizing  the  validity  of  the 
claims  of  His  only-begotten  Son  fulfilled  the  promise 
which  had  been  ringing  down  through  the  ages.  This 
sending  forth  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  to  empower  men 
to  understand  the  Savior's  love  and  mission  and  thus 
find  life  in  His  Name.  "This  is  My  beloved  Son"  was 
the  testimony  proclaimed  to  all  who  would  hear  at  the 
Baptism  of  Jesus.  The  witness  unto  Christ  is  an  essen- 
tial element  in  Christian  life.  That  witness  has  been 
made  possible  by  the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     The 


SUNDAY  AFTER  ASCENSION  DAY  297 

outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  conditioned  upon 
the  return  of  the  Son  "whom  I  will  send  unto  you." 
Hence  the  Ascension  of  Christ  to  the  right  hand  of  God 
assumes  a  supreme  significance  not  readily  nor  always 
recognized  and  admitted. 

We  have  said  that  through  this  act  there  is  established 
a  new  relationship  between  the  unseen  and  the  seen, 
heaven  and  earth,  the  Creator  and  the  creature.  The  old 
has  passed  away.  All  things  have  become  new.  The 
continued  presence  of  Christ  on  earth  after  the  com- 
pletion of  His  mission  was  not  essential.  The  appear- 
ance and  continuance  of  Christ  at  the  right  hand  of  God 
there  to  continue  to  intercede  for  us  is  essential.  The 
Ascension  is  the  beginning  of  that  movement  finding  its 
consummation  on  Whitsuntide  whereby  the  barriers  of 
race  and  nation  are  destroyed,  and  the  promises  once 
made  to  a  people  are  reiterated  authoritatively,  strikingly 
and  strongly  to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  The  frag- 
mentary manifestation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  those  who 
accepted  the  covenant  relationship  of  an  offended  God 
has  been  converted  into  the  constant  stream  of  blessing 
in  which  all  flesh  is  offered  an  opportunity  to  become 
clean  and  to  approach  its  God.  The  new  relationship 
affects  Father  and  Son,  the  Father  willingly  hearing  and 
answering  prayers  in  Jesus'  name,  the  Son  by  His 
obedience  and  satisfaction  having  obtained  recognition 
as  the  only  valid  intercessor  between  God  and  man,  and 
being  appointed  Judge  of  the  quick  and  the  dead.  The 
Spirit  must  abide  by  the  will  of  the  Son  and  must  go 
forth  upon  His  errand  of  mercy.  In  the  new  relation- 
ship man  is  not  left  without  God.  He  is  not  less  fortu- 
nate than  the  disciples.  In  the  old  covenant  the  mani- 
festation of  God  was  formal,  outward,  conformed  to 
the  limitations  of  Israel.  During  the  earthly  days  of  the 
Savior  the  transition  was  gradually  to  be  made  from 
that  which  is  limited,  formal,  artificial,  sacrificial  to  that 


298  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

which  partakes  of  less  of  the  purely  formal  and  more 
of  the  spiritual.  The  sacramental  is  emphasized.  It  is 
scarcely  surprising  that  a  revolution  so  pronounced 
should  have  left  its  impress  upon  radical  thinkers,  not 
willing  to  pursue  the  journey  step  by  step  and  should 
have  brought  them  to  an  apparently  necessary  rejection 
of  all  form.  My  relationship  to  the  Savior  should  be  all 
the  more  intense  because  I  know  that  He  is  at  this 
moment  interceding  for  me  and  has  sent  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  keep  me  from  falling  while  He  intercedes.  Thus  view 
the  relationship  as  you  will,  either  as  the  relationship 
sustained  between  Father  and  Son,  Son  and  Spirit, 
Spirit  and  humanity,  or  the  Father  and  humanity  or  the 
Son  and  humanity,  the  Ascension  has  intensified  and 
reconstructed  these  relationships  along  larger,  broader 
and  more  significant  lines. 

The  Ascension  stands  for  the  establishment  of  head- 
quarters not  on  earth  nor  in  hell  but  in  heaven.  "Whom 
I  will  send  unto  you  from  the  Father"  indicates  the  realm 
to  which  Jesus  is  about  to  depart.  Heaven  cannot  be  geo- 
graphically traced  because  heaven  pertains  to  eternity  not 
to  time  or  space.  To  be  with  Jesus  and  the  Father  for- 
ever and  ever,  this  is  the  meaning  of  heaven  for  me.  The 
establishment  of  headquarters  in  heaven  simply  means 
the  establishment  of  headquarters  in  eternity.  There  is 
to  be  no  restriction  in  the  intercourse  and  dwelling  of 
Christ  and  there  is  to  be  no  restriction  in  the  intercourse 
and  dwelling  of  those  who,  purchased  by  His  blood,  have 
heeded  the  call  of  the  Spirit  in  their  lives  and  await  the 
translation  which  shall  free  them  from  the  restraints  of 
earth.  There  is  an  infinite  value  in  this  thought  for  those 
who  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  who  are 
consequently  willing  to  be  without  the  bodily  presence 
of  Christ  for  a  little  while  in  order  that  He  may  be  per- 
manently enjoyed  by  His  own.  To  wish  to  hold  Christ 
upon  earth  is  the  desire  of  those  who  have  not  fullv  sur- 


SUNDAY  AFTER  ASCENSION  DAY  299 

rendered  to  Him.  The  presence  of  Jesus  at  the  right  hand 
of  God  is  a  guarantee  of  the  fulfilment  of  every  promise 
made  by  Him.  But  after  all  the  significance  of  the 
Ascension  is  not  rightly  measured  or  understood  unless 
we  realize  and  admit  that  the  sending  forth  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  establishment  of  new  relationships,  the  re- 
establishment  of  headquarters,  all  point  to  at  least  the 
temporary  continuance  of  earthly  relationships.  He,  the 
Savior,  indicates  that  He  must  leave  His  disciples.  He 
is  to  ascend  to  His  Father  and  their  Father.  Why  not 
take  them  with  Him  if  He  loves  them?  The  question 
asked  by  the  scoffer  indicates  that  they  have  in  His  eyes 
become  the  stumbling-block  and  offence  predicted  by 
Christ.  But  you  have  heard  so-called  believers  ask  the 
question.  You  have  heard  them  say  if  there  be  evil  why 
shall  not  the  disciples  of  Christ  escape  it?  They  are  not 
in  sympathy  with  it  and  it  is  wrong  to  make  them  suffer 
the  results  of  it.  I  trust  that  no  one  here  this  morning 
has  ever  reasoned  thus.  Jesus  indicates  the  continuance 
of  disciples  in  the  world  and  tells  them  plainly  of  the 
sufferings  in  store  for  them.  If  He  knew  this  why  not 
relieve  them?  O  selfish  egotist!  wrapped  up  in  personal 
desires  and  personal  achievement.  Have  you  never 
thought  of  the  work  the  Holy  Spirit  has  given  you  to 
do  ?  There  was  a  time  when  Jesus  did  it  all  and  the  dis- 
ciples simply  stood  by  and  approved.  All  that  has 
passed.  Jesus  has  done  it  all.  He  has  redeemed  you! 
He  has  drawn  you  from  sin  to  holiness,  but  He  demands 
as  much  of  you  as  was  demanded  of  the  disciples  when 
He  entrusted  to  them  the  duty  and  privilege  of  witness- 
bearing.  The  Ascension  has  placed  new  responsibilities 
upon  your  shoulders.  You  are  the  agents  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  servants  of  Christ.  If  Christ  takes  you  with 
Him  from  earth  to  heaven  who  is  to  give  a  cup  of  cold 
water  to  those  who  ask  for  it?  Who  is  to  carry  the 
gospel  to  those  who  are  without  it  at  home  and  abroad? 


300  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

Who  is  to  feed  the  orphans  and  supply  the  wants  of 
widows?  Who  is  to  build  and  supply  the  needs  of  our 
hospitals?  Who  is  to  speak  a  word  of  cheer  to  the  man 
who  is  tired  and  footsore  and  ready  to  fall  by  the  way- 
side ?  Who  is  to  enter  the  homes  of  those  who  mourn  the 
loss  of  their  dead  and  tell  them  of  the  hope  of  everlasting 
life?  Who  is  to  lend  sunshine  and  cheer  and  courage 
and  assurance  to  a  world  sitting  in  the  shadow  of  death  ? 
That  is  your  business.  And  it  is  your  business  because  of 
the  Ascension  of  Jesus.  Perhaps  you  too  have  gone  with 
the  disciples  to  the  Mount.  You  have  done  it  because 
of  your  love  for  the  Master,  but  you  must  be  aroused 
from  your  day-dream.  "Ye  men  of  Galilee  why  stand 
ye  gazing  up  into  heaven?"  There  is  a  work  for  you  to 
do  here  and  now.  Why  are  you  not  doing  it?  The 
Ascension  stands  for  the  delegation  of  authority.  The 
Son  asks  for  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  sends  that 
Holy  Spirit.  The  Holy  Spirit  energizes  the  disciples  and 
strengthens  them  for  their  witness-bearing.  In  like  man- 
ner He  energizes  you  and  commits  to  you  this  trust. 
Witness-bearing  costs  something.  It  may  mean  that  they 
shall  put  you  out  of  the  synagogues.  It  may  mean  that 
they  will  expel  you  from  a  narrow  sect-belief  or  from 
the  privileges  of  social  intercourse.  It  may  mean  the 
laying  down  of  your  life  for  your  Master,  but  what  of 
that?  The  Master  who  demands  also  promises.  The 
compensation  here,  a  strong,  Christ-like  character  able 
to  do  and  die.  The  compensation  there,  eternity  with 
Christ.  The  Ascension  indicates  the  trust  and  the  con- 
fidence which  Christ  places  in  you.  He  knows  that 
Christianity  will  eventually  triumph  and  He  offers  to 
you  an  opportunity  to  share  in  that  triumph  and  its 
song.  Christ  says  of  the  disciples,  He  says  of  you  and 
me  "ye  also  bear  witness."  Why  not  examine  ourselves 
and  ask  the  nature  of  the  witness  we  bear? 


XXXVII. 
WHITSUNDAY. 

John  14:26. 

"But  the  Comforter,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom  the  Father  will 
send  in  nvy  name,  He  shall  teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  to  your 
remembrance  all  that  I  said  unto  you." 

Perhaps  the  most  important  document  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Christian  Church  not  included  in  the  canon 
of  Holy  Scripture,  is  the  Apostles'  Creed.  Critics  and 
apologists  are  united  in  this  opinion,  hence  the  great  num- 
ber of  essays  on  this  primitive  confession  of  the  early 
church.  Whatever  difference  there  may  be  concerning 
its  original  content  or  structure,  faith  in  the  Trinity  is 
clearly  postulated,  faith  in  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son, 
and  God  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  cannot  speak  and  we  do 
not  speak  of  the  validity  of  the  first  two  articles  of  the 
creed  without  adding  the  third,  and  it  is  this  third 
article  of  the  creed  on  which  stress  must  be  placed  on 
this  Whitsuntide  morning.  Is  it  essential  or  is  it  not? 
The  question  is  not  based  on  the  permanent  value  of  the 
creed  so  much  as  on  the  permanent  value  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture itself.  If  there  is  contained  in  this  third  article  of 
the  creed  a  biblical  truth  it  has  a  permanent  vahie.  We 
repeat  the  words  "I  believe  in  God  the  Father"  and  we 
have  at  least  a  finite,  limited  idea  of  what  they  imply. 
We  repeat  the  words  'T  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  His  only 
Son  our  Lord"  and  the  horizon  becomes  very  luminous. 
We  repeat  the  words  'T  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost"  and 
let  us  be  absolutely  honest  how  many  of  us  have  ever 
searched  Holy  Scripture  for  an  idea  of  the  importance 

301 


302  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

of  this  statement.  It  may  be  well  for  us  to  pause  a  few 
moments  while  we  consider 

The  Personality  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

There  is  much  material  on  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
as  manifest  in  calling  and  sanctifying  the  believer. 
Luther  has  rightly  emphasized  the  importance  of  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  his  interpretation  of  the  third 
article  of  the  creed.  It  may  be  well  to  repeat  that  inter- 
pretation at  this  point  lest  we  forget:  "I  believe  that 
I  cannot  by  my  own  reason  or  strength  believe  in  Jesus 
Christ  my  Lord,  or  come  to  Him;  but  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  called  me  through  the  gospel,  enlightened  me  by  his 
gifts,  and  sanctified  and  preserved  me  in  the  true  faith; 
in  like  manner  as  He  calls,  gathers,  enlightens,  and  sanc- 
tifies the  whole  Christian  church  on  earth,  and  preserves 
it  in  union  with  Jesus  Christ  in  the  true  faith ;  in  which 
Christian  church  He  daily  forgives  abundantly  all  my 
sins,  and  the  sins  of  all  believers,  and  will  raise  up  me 
and  all  the  dead  at  the  last  day,  and  will  grant  everlast- 
ing life  to  me  and  to  all  who  believe  in  Christ.  This  is 
most  certainly  true."  The  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
more  important  than  His  person.  The  laborer,  if  he 
be  efficient,  will  voluntarily  sacrifice  his  personality  in  the 
interests  of  his  task.  He  will  remain  in  the  background. 
In  fact,  the  more  efficient  he  is,  the  less  obtrusive  will  his 
personality  be.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  distinctly  a  worker. 
It  is  His  work  rather  than  His  person  that  needs  to  be 
emphasized.  And  yet  in  quoting  and  re-quoting  Luther's 
interpretation  of  the  third  article  of  the  creed  we  become 
more  and  more  convinced  that  to  Luther  as  to  every  true 
Christian  the  Holy  Spirit  must  be  a  very  real  person.  It 
is  because  we  must  be  in  sympathy  with  Holy  Scripture, 
it  is  because  we  must  turn  to  it  again  and  again  in  our 
discussion  that  on  this  day  there  is  a  clearer  line  of 
cleavage  than  anywhere  else  between  those  who  accept 


WHITSUNDAY  303 

and  those  who  reject  the  gospel  for  this  day.  It  is  be- 
cause reason  does  not  help  us  in  the  solution  of  our  prob- 
lem, but  only  our  experience  in  personal  contact  with  the 
third  person  of  the  Trinity,  an  experience  which  accords 
with  the  promises  of  Jesus,  that  this  gospel  means  so 
little  for  children  of  this  world. 

What  do  we  mean  in  speaking  of  personality  as  ap- 
plied to  God?  It  may  be  interesting  to  ask  some  of  the 
systems  round  about  us  of  a  non-Christian  type  before 
discussing  the  subject  from  the  Christian  standpoint.  For 
instance,  pantheism  treats  of  God  and  the  world  as  one 
and  the  same  thing.  Spinoza  says  there  is  but  one  sub- 
stance and  this  substance  he  calls  God.  He  ridicules  the 
idea  that  personality  may  be  ascribed  to  God  by  say- 
ing "definition  is  negation."  Materialism  claims  that 
matter  can  explain  everything.  There  was  no  creation, 
it  says,  for  matter  is  eternal.  There  is  no  providence 
required  as  the  free  movement  of  the  atoms  is  sufficient. 
In  other  words,  materialism  says  there  is  no  personal 
God.  It  claims  it  needs  none.  The  Deist  believes  there 
is  a  God,  but  his  God  having  created  the  world  remains 
aloof  from  that  world  and  from  man.  What  a  haughty 
personality  such  a  God  must  be !  There  is  much  need  in 
such  a  system  for  the  hymn  "Nearer  My  God  to  Thee." 
Standing  out  boldly  and  forcibly  in  open  protest  against 
views  such  as  these  is  the  Christian  conception  of  the 
personality  of  God.  It  is  not  in  sympathy  with  the  cold, 
rigid  attempts  to  introduce  a  philosophy  invented  by  the 
mind  of  man  to  take  the  place  of  the  true  philosophy  of 
life  which  we  have  in  Christ  Jesus.  In  speaking  of  God 
as  a  person  we  do  so  because  we  cannot  do  otherwise. 
We  have  thus  learned  to  know  Him  and  He  has  thus 
manifested  Himself  unto  us.  In  speaking  of  God  as  a 
person  the  Christian  acknowledges  his  subordination,  his 
willing  subordination  to  perfect,  spiritual,  omnipotent 
personality  in  Him  Whom  we  term  God.     Personality 


304  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

is  self-conscious  essence  and  implies  spirit  rather  than 
body,  thought  rather  than  extension.  When  I  say  God 
is  a  personal  God  I  distinguish  Him  from  the  idols  of 
the  heathen.  I  cannot  conscientiously  fall  down  before 
a  god  made  of  stone  or  wood,  mutilate  myself,  inflict 
all  sorts  of  torment  and  in  doing  so  cry  out:  "Baal  hear 
me,  Baal  hear  me."  I  know  that  Baal,  though  he  has 
ears,  hears  not  and  though  he  has  grotesque  eyes,  sees 
not,  and  though  he  has  a  misshapen  mouth  cannot  speak. 
Others  may  imagine  personality  there,  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  acknowledge  as  much.  My  spirit  accords  with 
that  of  Paul  who  says:  "Being  then  the  offspring  of 
God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto 
gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and  device  of 
man."  The  Athenians  themselves  recognize  the  unsatis- 
factory nature  of  their  worship,  for  they  ascribe  homage 
"to  an  unknown  God."  This  "God  is  a  spirit  and  those 
who  worship  Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth."  In  surnmarizing  these  views  concerning  what 
God  is  as  over  against  what  He  is  not  it  may  be  suf- 
ficient to  say  that  the  God  of  the  Christian  is  a  conscious, 
thoughtful,  loving  Providence  Who  cares  for  us  far  more 
efficiently  than  we  imagine.  The  very  fact  that  God  is 
so  infinitely  above  us  makes  it  difficult  to  describe  Him 
accurately.  Man's  sinfulness  makes  it  impossible  to  ap- 
proach Him  adequately.  God  recognizes  this  condition 
in  sending  forth  His  Son  and  we  have  an  opportunity 
of  becoming  intimately  acquainted  with  the  unique  per- 
sonality of  Christ.  Now  we  are  beginning  to  tread  on 
more  familiar  ground.  We  can  speak  more  authorita- 
tively for  whereas  no  man  hath  ever  seen  the  Father, 
we  have  seen  the  Son  Whose  glory  we  beheld,  the  glory 
as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth.  These  are  the  distinguishing  traits,  so  pre- 
eminent in  the  Person  of  Christ — grace  and  truth.  The 
former  is  the  feminine  quality  without  which  there  can 


WHITSUNDAY  305 

be  no  true  home,  no  true  affection,  no  true  friendship. 
Grace  is  transparent  beauty,  not  dependent  upon  goodli- 
ness  of  countenance,  but  deeply  dependent  upon  goodli- 
ness  of  heart.  Grace  means  sympathy,  co-operation, 
love.  It  means  self-sacrifice,  perfect  submission  to  the 
will  of  another.  It  means  a  domination  over  others  by 
example  rather  than  by  precept.  It  is  the  embodiment 
of  the  gospel  rather  than  of  the  law.  It  is  the  poetry 
of  life  distinguished  from  its  prose.  Grace  in  mankind 
is  supremely  beautiful.  Grace  refulgent  in  incarnate 
Deity  is  sublime.    It  blots  earth  from  earth. 

As  grace  is  the  feminine  quality  in  the  person  of 
Christ,  truth  is  its  masculine  counterpart.  Truth  implies 
certainty.  Certainty  implies  strength.  Strength  implies 
victory.  "The  truth  shall  make  you  free"  is  no  empty 
promise.  Truth  is  not  always  a  desirable  factor  to  those 
steeped  in  iniquity.  Truth  sent  John  the  Baptist  to  his 
death.  Truth  crucified  the  Savior.  Truth  will  continue 
to  be  a  stumbling  block  to  the  end  of  time,  but  eventu- 
ally it  must  set  us  free  as  it  has  already  accomplished  this 
end  in  the  death  of  Christ.  Truth  may  be  recognized 
by  its  fearless  dependence  upon  God.  It  stands  in  the 
very  jaws  of  death  and  bids  them  contract.  It  is  this 
heroic  element  that  wins  the  admiration  of  the  world, 
a  late  tribute  in  many  instances,  but  a  final  vindication. 
The  entire  subjection  of  life  to  either  grace  or  truth  to 
the  exclusion  of  one  or  the  other  produces  a  very  one- 
sided personality.  The  reason  why  Jesus  Christ  stands 
forth  as  the  only  perfect  personality  clothed  in  human 
form  is  because  of  the  inclusion  of  grace  and  truth  in 
that  personality  in  perfect  balance.  Alike  the  strength 
and  beauty  of  the  life  of  Christ  appeal  to  us.  We  are 
fond  of  those  pictures  which  properly  blend  the  two.  We 
hang  them  upon  our  walls.  We  have  them  engraved 
within  our  hearts.  In  holding  intercourse  with  the 
Father  we  approach  Him  through  the  Son.     There  is 


3o6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

nothing  vague  about  this  person  of  the  God-man.  We 
have  a  distinct,  tangible  conception.  It  may  be  a  bit 
erroneous  in  each  one  of  us  because  of  our  limitations 
and  our  inability  even  to  grasp  the  Grodhead  incarnate, 
but  it  is  sufficiently  clear  to  permit  us  to  feel  that  we  know 
Him  and  knowing,  love  Him.  He  is  real,  incarnate, 
living.  We  have  no  doubts  upon  this  score.  Our  jour- 
ney to  the  real  center  of  the  gospel  lesson  for  this  day 
has  been  long  and  perhaps  tedious  to  some,  but  it  has 
been  a  necessary  journey  for,  after  all,  there  is  a  close 
connection  between  Whitsunday  and  Trinity  Sunday 
and  we  cannot  grasp  the  significance  of  the  person  or 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  unless  we  consider  Him  in  con- 
nection with  the  Father  and  the  Son.  The  journey, 
though  perhaps  a  bit  tedious,  has  been  over  charted 
routes.  To  how  many  of  us  is  the  discussion  of  the  per- 
sonality of  the  Holy  Spirit  a  charted  route?  We  engage 
earnestly  in  singing  the  hymn  which  is  so  dear  to  us: 

"Come,    o   come,   Thou   quickening    Spirit, 

Thou  forever  art  divine: 

Let  Thy  power  never  fail  me, 

Always  fill  this  heart  of  mine : 

Thus  shall  grace  and  truth  and  light 

Dissipate  the  gloom  of  night." 

Let  us  stop  to  analyze  our  feelings  as  we  sing  this  hymn. 
The  line  "always  fill  this  heart  of  mine"  seems  to  con- 
vey our  sentiment  most  adequately.  We  believe  there  is 
an  overshadowing  by  some  mighty  power,  but  further 
than  this  we  dare  not  advance.  When  asked  for  a 
definition  of  the  Holy  Spirit  we  almost  unconsciously 
revert  to  the  symbol  of  the  dove  or  the  symbol  of  the 
tongues  of  fire.  And  yet  we  are  clearly  told  these  are 
symbols.  There  is  something  more  than  the  rushing  of 
a  mighty  wind.  There  is  the  presence  and  predominance 
of  personality.     To  this  Jesus  refers  clearly  in  saying: 


WHITSUNDAY  307 

"But  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  Whom  I  will  send 
unto  you  from  the  Father,  even  the  Spirit  of  truth, 
which  proceedeth  from  the  Father,  He  shall  bear  wit- 
ness of  me."  We  are  coming  to  the  point  of  it  all. 
Just  as  truly  as  I  am  to  think  of  the  Father  and  the  Son 
as  persons,  so  also  am  I  to  look  upon  the  Holy  Spirit. 
He  has  come  into  this  world  just  as  truly  as  Jesus  has 
come  into  it.  He  associated  Himself  with  the  indi- 
vidual believer  long  before  the  great  Whitsuntide  out- 
pouring just  as  truly  as  the  Son  revealed  Himself  to 
prophets  and  saints  of  the  old  covenant.  The  Holy  Spirit 
is  referred  to  by  Job  as  Creator:  "the  Spirit  of  God  has 
made  me."  He  is  spoken  of  as  present  everywhere  in 
the  Psalms.  John  looks  upon  Him  as  the  author  of  the 
new  birth.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  record  at  length 
His  sphere  in  guiding  and  watching  over  the  servants 
of  Christ.  What  has  already  been  said  of  the  person- 
ality of  Jesus  applies  with  equal  force  to  the  person  of 
the  Spirit.  If  we  are  taught  to  look  upon  Christ  as  the 
embodiment  of  grace  and'  truth  we  are  equally  taught 
to  look  upon  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Comforter.  The 
disciples  are  lonely  without  Christ.  They  are  not  suf- 
ficiently strong  to  stand  without  support.  We  too  are 
lonely  without  Christ.  We  need  someone  to  stand  by 
us.  As  the  promise  came  to  them  it  comes  to  us.  As 
they  needed  more  than  an  abstract  principle,  we  need 
more  than  that.  As  feeUng  or  emotion  would  not  suffice 
for  them,  it  will  not  suffice  for  us.  The  Holy  Spirit  is 
constantly  by  our  side.  It  is  His  unseen  presence  that 
strengthens  us  in  weakness,  comforts  us  in  sickness  and 
in  sorrow,  and  restores  to  life  powers  that  are  nigh  unto 
exhaustion.  This  task  of  comforting  is  the  feminine 
power,  as  Spirit  of  truth  He  asserts  His  masculine 
strength.  In  this  capacity  He  strives  with  sinners.  He 
is  vexed.  He  reproves  the  world.  How  terrible  is  the 
judgment  visited  upon  Ananias  and  Sapphira  because 


3o8  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

they  agree  to  tempt  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  and  how  sting- 
ing the  rebuke  of  Peter:  "Ananias,  why  hath  Satan 
filled  thine  heart  to  lie  to  the  Holy  Ghost?"  If  we  are 
to  look  upon  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  person  nearest  to 
us,  for  it  is  He  Who  leads  to  Christ  just  as  truly  as  the 
Son  leads  us  to  the  Father,  does  that  not  change  and 
intensify  our  conception  of  Him?  Does  it  not  make  us 
love  Him  as  we  love  our  Lord  Jesus?  Does  this  not 
prompt  us  to  be  co-workers  with  Him  in  bringing  others 
to  Christ? 


XX'XVIII. 
TRINITY  SUNDAY. 

John  3:3. 

"Except  one  be  born  anew,  he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

I 
We  read  somewhere  in  the  narrative  of  the  first  three 
evangelists  of  a  busy  Galilean  evening  spent  by  Jesus 
in  healing  the  sick  that  were  brought  to  Him.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  compare  that  Galilean  evening  with  the  evening 
spent  in  or  near  Jerusalem,  the  narrative  of  which  is  pre- 
served for  us  by  John.  How  true  to  the  customs  and 
the  life  of  the  north  and  the  south  these  two  stories 
are.  In  the  story  before  us  we  are  told  that  Jesus  had 
come  to  Jerusalem  for  the  celebration  of  the  passover. 
On  His  arrival  at  the  temple  He  found  wholly  unwar- 
rantable and  unjustifiable  conditions,  a  picture  of  barter 
and  of  trade  instead  of  true  sacrifice  and  true  worship. 
It  took  little  time  to  decide  what  must  be  His  program 
under  these  circumstances.  It  took  little  time  to  drive 
out  both  the  animals  and  those  who  sold  them.  Drastic 
action  such  as  He  engaged  in  immediately  brought  forth 
from  the  Jews  a  challenge  to  prove  His  authority  by  a 
sign,  and  Jesus  answered  them  by  saying,  "Destroy  this 
temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up,"  speaking, 
as  we  know,  of  the  temple  of  His  body.  During  His 
sojourn  in  Jerusalem  He  manifested  Himself  by  many 
signs  and  we  are  told  that  many  believed  on  Him.  The 
second  chapter  of  John  from  which  we  have  quoted  and 
which  forms  the  prelude  to  the  evening  scene  about  to 
be  described,  closes  with  the  significant  words  "But  Jesus 
did  not  trust  himself  unto  them,  for  that  he  knew  all 

309 


310  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

men,  and  because  he  needed  not  that  any  one  should 
bear  witness  concerning  man ;  for  he  himself  knew  what 
was  in  man."  These  words  are  a  proper  interlude  lead- 
ing us  from  the  busy  routine  of  the  day  to  the  medita- 
tive seclusion  of  the  evening. 

We  do  not  know  where  the  conversation  between 
Jesus  and  Nicodemus,  a  ruler  of  the  Jews,  a  member  of 
the  Sanhedrin,  took  place.  Some  have  suggested  it  was 
in  the  city  itself,  perhaps  in  the  home  of  John,  the  nar- 
rator of  the  incident;  others  say  it  was  at  Bethany,  in 
a  home  in  which  Jesus  tarried  during  His  southern  Jeru- 
salem sojourn.  Whether  in  the  city  or  out  of  the  city 
does  not  matter.  Seated  in  the  upper  room,  the  guest 
chamber,  approachable  by  a  staircase  from  the  outside, 
the  Savior  of  men  was  accessible  even  during  the  hours 
of  the  evening  and  the  night  to  seekers  after  truth. 
Nicodemus  is  such  a  seeker.  He  has  overcome  many 
scruples  in  His  willingness  to  come  to  Jesus.  He  has 
placed  himself  in  a  rather  compromising  and  dangerous 
position.  The  storm  is  already  lowering.  There  are 
threatening  clouds  upon  the  horizon.  The  rulers  of  the 
people  have  secretly  discussed  the  person,  the  teaching 
and  the  deeds  of  this  strange  man,  who  has  appeared  as 
the  Messiah.  They  have  been  unable  to  convince  them- 
selves concerning  either  Him  or  His  message.  The 
statements  of  Nicodemus  reveal  as  much.  In  spite  of 
the  hostile  attitude  assumed  by  his  colleagues  Nicodemus 
is  anxious  to  investigate  further,  to  have  first-hand  infor- 
mation, and  with  this  purpose  in  view  he  risks  his  pres- 
tige and  his  standing  with  his  colleagues  and  sets  forth 
on  his  secret  embassy.  The  first  thing  of  importance  is 
that  truly  seeking  Jesus  he  finds  Him  and  finds  the 
Rabbi,  as  he  addresses  him,  willing  to  discuss  his  prob- 
lem with  him,  perhaps  not  as  he  thought  that  problem 
would  be  discussed,  but  far  more  thoroughly,  far  more 
thoughtfully,    far    more    earnestly.      That    Nicodemus 


TRINITY  SUNDAY  311 

realized  the  earnestness  and  the  sincerity  of  Jesus  is 
manifest  in  his  after  life,  of  which  two  incidents  are 
recorded  by  John.  The  great  question  that  agitated  the 
Sanhedrin  in  its  thought  concerning  Jesus  was  voiced 
by  Nicodemus  in  his  salutation:  "Rabbi,  we  know  that 
thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God."  The  Sanhedrin 
was  again  confronted  with  the  question  of  orthodoxy  or 
heterodoxy.  Secretly  it  had  admitted  His  orthodoxy  and 
rested  its  conclusion  on  His  ability  to  do  approved  signs, 
signs  which  in  its  opinion,  no  one  could  do  except  God 
were  with  him.  In  answer  to  this  salutation  Jesus  said: 
"Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  one  be  born  anew, 
he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  In  the  silence  of 
the  night,  disturbed  only  by  the  occasional  whisper  of 
the  wind,  two  persons  are  seated  in  that  upper  room  by 
the  glimmering  light,  one  of  them  the  representative  of 
a  light  that  faileth,  the  other  Himself  the  Light  that  is 
to  lighten  the  world ;  one  of  them  already  an  aged  man, 
the  representative  of  the  old  covenant,  the  other  a  young 
man,  the  representative  of  the  new  covenant.  The  aged 
man  has  come  to  place  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  young 
man.  It  may  be  interesting  and  helpful  to  follow  the 
conversation  and  back  of  that  the  thoughts  of  these  two 
representatives  of  covenants  with  God  on  the  basis  of 
the  introductory  utterance  of  Jesus  "Except  one  be 
born  anew,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

Nicodemus  belonged  to  those  Pharisees  who  though 
they  had  gone  forth  into  the  desert  to  hear  John  and 
though  the  message  concerning  the  baptism  unto  repent- 
ance had  been  addressed  to  them  as  well  as  to  others, 
held  aloof  from  baptism  itself,  believing  it  to  be  humiliat- 
ing and  unnecessary  for  them  as  rulers  of  the  people  to 
subject  themselves  to  this,  to  them,  superfluous  act. 
Luke  tells  us:  "And  all  the  people  when  they  heard, 
and  the  publicans,  justified  God,  being  baptized  with  the 
baptism  of  John.    But  the  Pharisees  and  the  lawyers  re- 


312  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

jected  for  themselves  the  counsel  of  God,  being  not  bap- 
tized of  him."  They  based  the  claims  of  the  spiritual 
life  upon  several  considerations.  They  needed  no  single 
act  to  bring  about  this  covenant  relationship  for  they 
were  the  children  of  Abraham.  Their  insistence  upon 
this  test  was  so  pronounced  and  so  conclusive  to  them, 
our  Lord  believed  it  worth  His  while  to  point  out  the 
fallacy  of  their  argument.  No  blood-relationship,  no 
human  ties.  He  would  say  to  them  constitute  a  legiti- 
mate test  of  membership  in  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
Abraham  himself  would  repudiate  many  of  his  children, 
or  rather  the  religion  of  many  of  his  descendants,  for  his 
religion  was  one  of  faith  whereas  their  religion  was  one 
of  inheritance  with  other  equally  extraneous  elements 
added.  And  so  Jesus  would  say  to  us  there  is  an  old 
covenant  attitude  even  today,  the  attitude  of  those  who 
have  never  fought  the  battles  of  the  fathers,  have  never 
thought  their  thoughts,  have  never  attempted  to  live  over 
again  their  lives  and  yet  are  satisfied  to  be  called  chil- 
dren of  these  heroes.  Jesus  would  not  repudiate  the 
past.  He  understood  it  in  its  relationship  to  the  history 
of  the  kingdom.  He  would  do  two  things  for  the  chil- 
dren of  His  age  and  our  age.  He  would  emphasize  its 
proper  appreciation  and  reject  a  false  dependence  upon 
supposed  inherited  rights. 

Nicodemus  went  a  step  farther.  He  not  only  re- 
jected Christ's  teaching  concerning  regeneration  because 
he  was  a  descendant  of  Abraham,  but  also  because  he 
had  been  trained  in  the  Mosaic  law.  This  law  at  all 
times  spoke  to  the  conscience  and  heart  of  Israel.  But 
this  law  could  not  be  grasped  in  its  entirety  by  any  one 
man.  least  of  all  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  avowed 
religious  life.  Orthodoxy  to  a  man  like  Nicodemus  de- 
pended upon  an  appreciation  of  the  Mosaic  law.  A 
man  of  his  mould  and  school  could  not  speak  of  the  new 
life  or  the  new  birth  save  as  a  process.     He  who  was 


TRINITY  SUNDAY  313 

most  learned  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  was,  to  a  man 
like  Nicodemus,  most  religious.  Hence  a  man  might 
gradually  acquire  holiness,  the  new  life,  the  new  birth, 
but  he  could  not  suddenly  be  a  new  creature.  You  can 
see  how  startling  the  answer  of  Christ  was  to  a  man  so 
trained.  And  again,  Nicodemus  though  a  Pharisee  and 
perhaps  a  bit  at  variance  with  the  priestly  class,  never- 
theless accepted  Israel's  sacrificial  system.  Now  there 
is  such  a  great  difference  between  the  work  religion  into 
which  Israel  had  fallen  through  its  sacrificial  observ- 
ances, many  of  which  were  not  commanded  by  God,  but 
were  superimposed  by  the  priests  and  the  religion  of 
which  Jesus  was  the  exponent  that  we  must  not  deal  too 
harshly  with  Nicodemus  for  his  inability  at  once  to  com- 
prehend the  radical  change  advocated  by  our  Lord.  Nor 
does  Jesus  condemn  his  lack  of  comprehension,  what  He 
does  condemn  is  his  lack  of  faith  as  He  must  condemn  the 
lack  of  faith  in  all  those  whose  religion  sinks  to  the 
level  of  visible  rites  and  ceremonials.  Nicodemus  stood 
for  signs.  He  admitted  as  much.  He  stood  for  the  con- 
version of  religious  life  and  experience  into  visible 
proofs.  The  proof  might  have  been  the  turning  of 
stones  into  bread,  the  outward  demonstration  of  angelic 
support  in  the  performance  of  a  wondrous  feat,  or  even 
the  cure  of  the  sick.  The  sign  might  have  been  a  mere 
token  of  power,  able  to  satisfy  the  curious  or  confirm 
the  validity  of  the  religion  of  Moses  and  Elijah.  To  a 
man  like  Nicodemus,  of  course,  the  sign  was  a  sign  and 
not  all  signs  were  held  to  be  valid.  He  speaks  of  "these 
signs"  as  peculiar  and  remarkable  demonstrations  of 
power,  but  even  to  him  there  was  too  much  of  the  purely 
objective  in  it  all.  The  signs  and  the  religion  had  re- 
peatedly been  compared,  but  the  signs  and  the  religion 
had  not  been  applied  to  the  individual  in  the  deepest 
needs  of  his  heart  and  life.  Jesus'  answer  to  such  as 
Nicodemus  is  unequivocal.     You  need  something  more 


314  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

than  signs,  something  more  than  work-righteousness, 
something  more  than  environment  and  heredity.  You 
need  the  Spirit. 

Those  who  have  studied  the  original  text  have  de- 
bated earnestly  concerning  the  meaning  of  the  word 
which  in  our  English  translation  is  rendered  anew.  It 
so  happens  that  the  word  may  mean  either  ANEW  or 
from  above.  Jesus  undoubtedly  had  both  ideas  in  mind 
when  He  used  the  term.  They  are  not  mutually  exclu- 
sive. They  supplement  each  other.  They  help  us  to 
understand  what  Jesus  meant.  Here  was  an  old  man 
before  Him,  a  man  trained  in  Israel's  law,  a  man  whose 
test  is  that  of  sight.  Jesus  accepts  the  challenge.  He 
says  to  him:  "Except  one  be  born  anew,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God."  He  too  would  make  of  religion 
a  visible  thing.  The  kingdom  of  God,  according  to 
Jesus,  can  be  seen,  but  not  as  Nicodemus  desired  to  see 
it.  It  can  be  seen  only  by  a  limited  number  of  even 
those  who  believed  themselves  to  be  its  members.  Jesus' 
test  as  over  against  that  of  Nicodemus  was  the  new 
birth — the  birth  from  above.  Nicodemus'  question  in 
answer  to  the  reply  of  Christ  proves  again  how  com- 
pletely he  moves  in  the  realm  of  the  visible,  the  material, 
the  fleshly,  how  could  he,  an  old  man,  begin  life  over 
again  if  he  would?  The  thing  is  simply  impossible. 
The  thought  which  has  dominated  his  mind  concerning 
his  Abrahamic  descent  has  filled  him  with  ancestral 
pride.  His  forbears  have  been  worthy  types.  He  has 
not  gone  far  enough  back  in  working  out  the  ancestral 
tree.  He  has  not  included  even  some  of  his  more  imme- 
diate ancestry.  He  has  never  thought  of  the  question 
of  original  sin  or  of  human  depravity  in  its  baneful  in- 
fluences upon  his  life.  The  message  of  Jesus  to  His 
age  repeated  over  and  over  again  is  that  true  life  does 
not  emanate  from  Abraham  or  from  Moses,  from  sacri- 
fice or  self-mortification,  but  simply  and  solely  from  God 


TRINITY  SUNDAY         •  315 

who  sends  His  Holy  Spirit  into  the  hearts  of  men. 
The  new  life  made  possible  by  Christ,  the  life  that  is  to 
be  pictured  in  the  season  which  begins  today  must  itself 
have  a  beginning  and  that  beginning  is  neither  our  fleshly 
birth  nor  our  personal  endeavor,  however  intense  such 
an  endeavor  may  be,  but  the  coming  of  the  Spirit  into 
our  life.  This  coming  of  the  Spirit  into  the  life  of  man 
is  unseen  to  the  eye  for  that  is  the  meaning  of  Jesus, 
whether  you  render  it  "the  wind  blowing  where  it  will" 
or  "the  Spirit  breatheth  where  it  will."  Undoubtedly 
the  revisers  of  the  English  Bible  have  acted  wisely  in 
preserving  the  figure  of  the  wind  in  the  original,  insert- 
ing the  supplementary  reading  in  the  margin.  Nico- 
demus  has  asked  for  signs.  In  the  conversation  of  which 
what  is  preserved  to  us  is  undoubtedly  only  a  concise 
summary,  Jesus  has  spoken  of  earthly  things  which  are 
types  of  heavenly  things. 

He  has  spoken  of  the  wind,  one  of  the  most  marvel- 
ous of  God's  agents.  Have  you  ever  stood  with  the 
sailor  whose  duty  it  is  to  note  the  manifestations  of  this 
unseen  agent?  He  hears  the  voice  thereof.  He  marks 
the  direction  thereof.  He  notes  its  velocity.  All  these 
things  so  utterly  unintelligible  to  you  and  me  are  part  of 
his  daily  life  and  yet  he  has  never  seen  this  messenger. 
He  has  seen  its  results,  but  the  messenger  has  ever  re- 
mained unseen.  This  is  a  natural  thing,  illustrative  of 
a  supernatural  thing,  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  as  He 
goes  about  as  His  Messenger.  Just  as  the  sailor  sees 
the  wind  by  faith  so  there  are  children  of  God  who 
see  the  Spirit  and  the  manifestations  of  the  Spirit  and 
thus  see  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Does  this  radical  teach- 
ing, as  it  appeared  to  Nicodemus,  justify  his  drifting 
from  all  moorings,  his  cutting  loose  from  all  human 
associations?  Suppose  he  accepts  the  definition  of  Jesus, 
has  he  any  right  to  lead  the  life  of  a  mystic  monk,  shut 
off  from  the  world,  or  has  he  any  right  to  disassociate 


3i6  SERMONS  ON  THE  GOSPELS 

himself  from  the  visible  church  as  the  human  counter- 
part of  the  invisible  Kingdom?  Jesus  again  answers 
the  question:  "Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except 
one  be  born  of  water  and  the  spirit,  he  cannot  enter 
into  the  Kingdom  of  God."  You  may  say  the  cleansing 
by  water  was  an  individual  act,  not  a  corporate  act. 
Yes,  that  is  true.  Ezekiel  emphasizes  that  when  he  says 
of  the  old  covenant  ceremony:  "Then  will  I  sprinkle 
clean  water  upon  you  and  ye  shall  be  clean;  from  all 
your  filthiness  and  from  all  your  idols  will  I  cleanse 
you.  A  new  heart  also  will  I  give  you,  and  a  new  spirit 
will  I  put  within  you."  He  is  speaking  of  Israel  con- 
jointly, but  He  is  thinking  undoubtedly  of  the  individ- 
uals who  constitute  the  Israelitic  people.  And  Paul  says 
to  his  young  friend  Titus,  "According  to  his  mercy  he 
saved  us  through  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  re- 
newing of  the  Holy  Spirit."  But  they  who  are  thus 
born  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  truly  born  of  water  and 
the  Spirit,  are  one  and  must  seek  to  realize  their  oneness 
even  here  and  now.  As  we  have  already  seen,  Nico- 
demus  resisted  baptism.  His  pride  separated  him  from 
those  acknowledged  by  the  Master  to  be  his  true  chil- 
dren. The  direct  testimony  of  Jesus  is  that  the  birth 
of  the  Spirit  is  not  sufficient.  On  the  other  hand.  He 
testifies  that  an  outward  rite  or  ordinance,  however  an- 
cient and  legally  authoritative,  will  not  do.  He  excludes 
Israel  after  the  flesh.  He  excludes  fanatics  after  the 
Spirit. 

Is  it  not  eminently  appropriate  that  this  lesson  has 
been  selected  for  this  day,  a  day  on  which  we  sum- 
marize the  teaching  of  the  Sundays  that  have  passed,  a 
teaching  concerning  God  the  Father  who  of  His  great 
love  gave  His  only-begotten  Son,  a  teaching  concern- 
ing God  the  Son  who  was  lifted  up;  "that  whosoever 
believeth  may  in  him  have  eternal  life"  and  a  teaching 
concerning    the    Spirit    through    whose    grace    we    are 


TRINITY  SUNDAY  31; 

brought  into  fellowship  with  the  Father  and'  the  Son? 
As  we  ponder  upon  the  lessons  of  the  festival  half  of  the 
church-year  we  pray  that  if  we  have  not  been  born  anew 
God  may  send  His  Spirit  into  our  hearts  and  bring 
about  a  regeneration  in  our  lives  that  shall  permit  us 
to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


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